Burden
by TrAsHtaco
Summary: "Bravery like yours comes with a price. You may think you were being noble, jumping into the fray for a complete stranger, but here's the thing; You're playing by my rules now." OC. Slight AU. T for safe.
1. Prolouge Arc Intro

A/N: Since I forgot to put this when I put this up the first time.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own RWBY or the RWBYverse in any way, shape or form. All rights belong to Rooster Teeth. The only thing I really own is Azure.

Let this hold for the entire story. I'm not gonna put this up every single time.

* * *

It was always the same.

The boy looked across the apocalyptic scene before him. The entire city, one that he knew existed but couldn't remember where it was, was engulfed in flames as streets were torn apart and people all around ran for their lives.

And he stood in the middle of it all. He looked at his immediate surroundings; also the same as every single time before. To his left was a girl no older than him, who was merely sitting on the ground gazing upwards with fear contorting her face. He glanced down at his right arm and saw that it was bleeding profusely, staining his jacket all the way down to his pants.

Then there was the sight in front of him-a giant swirling ball of black flames that menacingly kept it's shape looming above the two children. The boy took in the scene one more time; now the crowds of terrified bystanders were replaced by soldiers, with what looked to be a married couple and their daughter screaming something that he couldn't hear.

He knew what happened next. But all he could do was play along.

"Take my body then!"

The girl was now looking right at him, fear replaced with confused shock.

"I don't care what it is you need or why you need it...as long as nobody else gets hurt, you can take what you need from ME!"

The sphere of flames unfolded and brought the boy into its painfully delicate embrace.

* * *

"Azure."

He opened his eyes to see a dark room, decorated elegantly in white with only the moon illuminating a small patch from the window.

It was the same as always, that dream. He'd replayed it so many times that he wasn't sure if it could be called a memory anymore. For all intents and purposes, he was reliving that day far too much.

Finally coming to his senses, he looked beside him and saw her lying next to him with an uneasy look on her face.

Blushing a bit from the sudden closeness, he jolted up and away from her.

"Ugh, dammit Weiss, what are you doing in my bed?"

Weiss stood up now, but never broke her gaze at him.

"You know why I'm here, idiot. With your constant thrashing about in your sleep, I could hear you from across the hall."

As she said this, she crawled over to him to wipe away the tears she wasn't sure he knew he had shed.

"I know, I know...but really, I'm fine now, Weiss, so just go back to your room. I can't imagine you didn't wake up Winter when you came over here."

"But, Azure-"

"Nope. Go."

But she clearly wasn't giving up just yet.

"I'm staying."

"...You're seriously doing this _now_?"

"Remember when you first started living with us? We shared a room, and whenever you started crying in your sleep, I climbed into bed with you."

Azure raised an eyebrow at this. "What exactly are you saying? That was years ago, we're both fourteen now."

Weiss blushed the slightest bit. "I know...but...I still don't like seeing you like that...so…"

Azure could already see where this was going, and not only was he too tired to put up with it, he secretly wanted some company.

"Save the guilt trip, Weiss. Go to sleep already."

And with that, he curled back up in his sheets and was out. Weiss was still for a moment, looking over the gradually calming face of her adoptive brother. After a few moments, a small smile escaped her lips.

"Goodnight to you, too, Azure."

"Hm."

And then, quietly enough so Azure couldn't hear;

"Sweet dreams...I...love you…"


	2. Azure Schnee

Typically, Azure liked to spend his afternoons under the tree in the Schnee manor's garden, just staring up at the sky. Depending on the day, he would either find himself lost in the bleak grayness of Atlas' clouds that threatened to release snow at any moment, or he would take in every little detail of a much more colorful scene as summer's blue abyss rolled on for miles above him, gradually turning to a violently beautiful gradient of violet and orange as the day drew to a close.

"BIG BROTHER!"

Today, though, he was content with breaking his routine.

As he got up to investigate the call, he was tackled and taken down by a little, energetic white ball. It took him a second to look up again, and saw two huge blue eyes and possibly the largest smile he'd ever seen staring back at him.

"Winter, could you, maybe, NOT kill me whenever you want me to play?"

Winter seemed to take some sort of offense to this comment, as her face quickly turned into a pout as she stood up.

"Shut up Azure! I'm ten years old now! I don't come to _play,_ I come to do big kid stuff!"

Azure could only chuckle at his sister's offense. This wasn't the first time they'd had this argument, and Azure knew this wouldn't be the last time. Luckily, he'd figured out how to cut it short a few minutes. Before she could get any more arguments in, he lightly tapped Winter on her forehead before breaking into a run.

"You're it!"

"No fair! I wasn't ready!"

"I thought you didn't wanna play?"

"SHUT UP AND STAY STILL!"

The two siblings ran throughout the garden for what felt like hours, but in reality was only a few minutes. They ran until, finally, Winter tripped and sent Azure and herself down a hill in the center of the garden, a tangle of white and blond hair until they finally hit the foot of the hill, still trying to recover from their fits of giggles.

They finally looked up to see two pleasant faces.

"What, _exactly_ , do you two think you're doing?"

Well, one pleasant face.

"If you must ask, Weiss, we were having fun. Not like you'd know what that is, cooped up in your room or the study all day."

Azure knew it was easy to get on Weiss' nerves. It didn't help that he loved doing it whenever he got the chance.

"Ugh! Of course I know what fun is, you idiot! I just have actual responsibilities, you know! Not like you'd know what those are, anyway!"

"I'm responsible for Neko!"

"Having a pet is different from running a company!"

Further argument was cut off by a gentle touch to both their shoulders.

"Children, children, please! There's no use fighting over something so trivial. You're both very responsible in your own ways, isn't that something for both of you to be proud of?"

Weiss and Azure both huffed in unison before saying. "Okay, mother."

With the conflict finally settled, Winter once again jumped at Azure, who was prepared for her attack and merely caught her.

"Come on big brother! Let's play some more!"

"I thought you wanted to do big kid stuff?"

"This IS big kid stuff! Big kid games for big kids!"

"Okay, okay."

As the two climbed back up the hill, Azure stopped about half way and called back to Weiss at the bottom.

"HEY WEISS! Quit being a prude and come play!"

With that he continued his ascent, not waiting to see if she was coming along at all.

Weiss, still at the bottom, looked very eager to go and play with her siblings but hesitated. She only looked away from the hill when her mother knelt down beside her.

"Go on, Weiss. You only get to be a kid once, and can't you see that they really want you to play?"

Weiss glanced back at the hill, now with both Azure and Winter standing on top waving down at her. She looked back to her mother, still unconvinced.

"But, mother-"

"Sshhh. Father won't know, it'll be our little secret." her mother said with a wink.

Weiss, who was now uncontrollably happy, hugged her mother before making a quick climb to the top of the hill.

As her daughter went to join her siblings, the mother only looked at the top to once more see the cheery grin of her adoptive son. She took in the sight of his white skin, only slightly darker than the pure-blood Schnee's, his wavy blond hair that reached about down to his chin and left only a small portion hanging between his eyes. And finally, his eyes; the right one green like the purest of emeralds, and the left a burning amber.

The Schnee mistress held her gaze on the boy for a moment before turning back into the manor, with a sad smile on her lips.

She barely remembered the way his eyes used to be.

* * *

"Hey, Weiss?"

"What is it?"

"...how did Father get this tree here anyway?"

An afternoon of games in the Schnee garden had left the three siblings completely exhausted, Winter so much that she'd taken to sleeping with her head on Azure's lap while he and Weiss sat beneath the cherry blossom tree where Azure had been hours ago.

"Well, these trees are native to Atlas, dummy."

"I know, but, all the other Sakura trees grow in the more southern areas of Atlas. The SDC and our manor are very much in the middle of Atlas."

"So, one cherry blossom makes more sense than a whole garden of them, right?"

"No, the fact that this is the only one for miles makes less sense than if there were a whole bunch!"

Weiss, quickly getting annoyed with the debate, turned over to her brother.

"Well, of _course_ Father planted it in our garden, and of _course_ our best gardeners have been taking care of it, idiot."

Azure seemed to accept that explanation. "Why didn't you just say that when I asked the first time?"

Weiss huffed, "Shut up."

Azure giggled a bit, and returned his gaze to the sky, now fading from an orange to a dark blue as night set in. The three of them stayed silent for a while, gazing at the sky as stars seemed to pop out of nowhere, the only thing breaking the silence was Winter's soft breathing as she slept.

"...you know, I kinda feel like the Sakura tree sometimes."

Weiss shot her brother a questioning glance. Azure met her gaze with a look unlike his usual, cheerful demeanor.

"I mean in our family. It's like I'm out of place or something, you know?"

Weiss' face only grew more confused, but the confusion couldn't mask the hurt that she felt. She only shook her head at Azure, not finding the words to ask what he meant.

"...just look at a family picture...blond amongst a bunch of white...green and amber mixed in with blue…"

He turned away, not being able to look at her anymore.

"I'm like a misplaced puzzle piece."

For a long time, there was more silence. For a long time, he expected her to say at any moment 'duh, of course.' or something like that.

It surprised him when she scooted over beside him, and tried not to wake Winter as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug.

For a while longer, they stayed just like that.

"...hey, Weiss?"

"Hm?"

"Do you really wanna be the next president of the company?"

Only more silence for a while.

Eventually, Weiss released him and just sat beside him as they turned to look back at the sky.

"Not really. Not the company Father's turned it into, anyways."

"Yeah, I hear that."

…

"I wanna be a huntress."

…

"I was thinking the same thing."

…

"Let's go to Beacon together, okay?"

"It's a deal."

The two siblings knew that their parents were gonna have a fit when they were told.

"Let's go to bed."

"Okay. I'll carry Winter."

* * *

A/N: Heeeeey! Just leaving a quick note here since I forgot one in the prologue. First off, while this isn't my first time writing, this IS my first fanfic. That being said, problems will be present, so please don't hesitate to bring them to my attention. Second, while the tag "slight AU" should cover this, be prepared for some slight OOC and deviation from canon (I mean, I've written a character into the RWBYverse dammit.). Lastly, don't ask about pairings. There will be some. I don't know what they are exactly. As far as Azure goes, I have two that I'm beating around, you guys probably can already tell which one I'm teasing. Be prepared, Imma tease the hell out of it. Just to be ahead of the game, no harem and no yaoi, not just for Azure but for all characters. Harem because I'm not sure how I would go about it without making it a sex party, yaoi because, while I'm not a homophobe, my straight male mind can't grasp how to write gay male interactions. Just that.

Anyways, like the story? Hate it? Like to make a suggestion? Drop a review, and follow if you want more! Trust me, as far as reviews go, "10/10 pretty gr8 m8" is valued just as much as "flameflameflame". So, that's all I got.

LATER BABES


	3. A Family

"Boss!"

"Hey, boss!"

"Boss Azure!"

A squint gave way to a whole-hearted glare towards the three hellions that just awoke the grumpiest kid alive.

"Shut up! And stop calling me boss, dammit."

"But you're our boss, boss!"

"You said it, Ken!"

"Yeah! You're our boss, Azure!"

The rudely awakened boy let out a deep breath to calm himself down. It was relatively easy to get him riled up, especially when it was at the expense of his much-needed rest. Even if he didn't want to, though, he had to see what was up with the kids. It was obvious that if they'd gone to him first, Micah was off on some grand adventure. Or stealing food.

Now that he thought about it, stealing food WAS an adventure for a good kid like Micah. How the unhealthily lazy Azure and the cocky runt that referred to himself as "The Great and Awesome Micah" became the sort of leaders for this group of street rats, no one would ever know.

"Dammit all, fine, fine! What do you guys want?"

The three little kids before him all looked at each other. All of a sudden, Ken's little face beamed up at Azure with his little bear features.

"Well, we found something super duper cool in that alley over there!"

Azure glanced at the alley. The one directly across from him. He met Ken's beam with his own dry, emotionless stare before he tried to get back to sleep.

All of a sudden though, his instincts kicked in and he threw a kick to his left.

Shooting up afterwards, he looked down and saw Ken and his little gang all looking absolutely _mortified._ It was in this moment that Azure's mind started racing with thoughts like 'Did I just kick a kid? Like, a new kid? Ah, hell, nonononono…'

As he shot up to see what hell he brought on himself, a ball of white jumped up from some spare boxes.

And Azure's face defaulted into his blank gaze.

When the white ball finally got into his range, Azure threw a hand up and caught it by the scruff of it's neck. In this unmoving form, he could make out it's features much more clearly. Blue eyes, pure white fur that had a couple dirt smudges on it, and a blank look that rivaled only his own.

A cat.

Ken and his entourage picked up, of all things that a snot-nosed kid could get in an alley, a goddamned cat.

Azure threw the cat back into the boxes and made his way back to his makeshift bed.

"Boss! Wh-what the hell?! Why are you being so mean to Neko?!"

Azure turned to the only girl of Ken's group, a little mouse faunus named Mika. While she was normally cute and full of sunshine, at this moment she glowered at Azure with anger that, with her features, came off more as a pout.

Azure met her anger with clear annoyance. "You seriously named the cat,'cat'?"

"Well, what would _you_ name him?"

"Probably not something so boring. Seriously, what kind of name is 'cat'?"

The last of the group, Yo, shot him a pout. "Shut up boss! We thought real hard about his name!"

Azure shot the three in front of him a look before lying back down to sleep. "Yeah, I can tell."

Just when he thought he could finally catch a break, Azure felt something drop and cover his face. He shot back up at the sudden contact and moved to get a look at his latest disturbance, when he found it was only a hoodie. A little on the tattered side, but it would still keep him warm when winter rolled around.

And it was coming fast this year.

Some commotion broke him from his thoughts and he glanced over at the boxes he'd thrown the damn cat into. He found a mop of magenta hair looking cautiously over the boxes while a braid of orange scooped the cat up and examined it at every angle. It was then that the magenta turned to him.

"Leave it to grumpy ol' Azure to abuse stray cats! Another reason why I, the great and awesome Micah Brezhnev, am much more noble than you!"

Azure's annoyance grew substantially. Leave it to Micah to get on every single one of his nerves just by opening his mouth.

"Shut up. Just make Ken get rid of it alrea-"

The cat made a lunge at him before he simply caught the furball again and tossed it over his shoulder. He was expecting Micah to make some stupid joke or Ken and his gang to yell again, but he was surprised with a soft giggle.

"Azure, why would we get rid of such a cute little guy?"

The cat vaulted over Azure's head and into the arms of the orange-haired girl in front of him. As she always did, she showed no sign of irritation or disappointment, only that cheery grin and wide eyes that brought out the good in people.

If they saw past the fox ears, that is.

"Ugh, come on, Rachel, we're not seriously gonna keep it?"

Rachel only giggled again, shifting her gaze to the white fluff in her arms. "I think we should. I mean, he's a stray, right? So if we don't take care of him, who will? Besides, I always wanted a pet at the orphanage…"

Azure winced a little at that last part. While it may have sounded like a guilt trip, Rachel was nothing if not honest. She was only telling the truth, and no one could argue against that.

"...fine...dammit...let me sleep now, _please?_ "

"BOSS! Don't be such a lazy bum!"

"Why is _he_ your boss? Shouldn't the great Micah be your boss?"

"Maybe you should be our boss now, Micah! Since Azure's just a bum!"

"Ken! Mika! Yo! Please come help me with getting the food ready!"

"Sure thing ma'am!"

As the Ken brigade took off to help Rachel with dinner, Azure was still noticeably irritated about something. And Micah had a knack for picking up on even the slightest of feelings.

"Something about home?"

Azure looked up, still a little upset but calming down little by little.

"...it just pisses me off whenever I think about it, you know?"

Micah took a seat next to his biggest foil, and closest friend.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm still not completely over it, you know? Hard to think it's already been a year…"

"What kind of backwards logic is that White Fang group fighting for?"

Micah sat in thought for a moment. "I don't think it was the White Fang."

Azure was slightly taken aback by this. "Well who the hell was it then? If the White Fang didn't do it, who did?!"

"I think it was just some faunus who were off their rockers. I mean, the White Fang are all about equality and stuff. So, why would they burn down a human-run orphanage that took in human and faunus children alike? It doesn't make any sense."

Azure seemed to mull over this for a few moments. "I guess you're right, but still…"

Micah stood up and placed a hand on Azure's shoulder.

"I get it Azure. I miss home, too. I miss director Brezhnev and all the kids that didn't come with us. But you and I, if no one else, have to be the strong ones now. For Ken, and the other kids."

Azure glanced over to Rachel and the kids, who were happily preparing dinner whilst singing songs and dancing the slightest bit.

"We have to be strong for when Rachel can't anymore, too."

"Yeah."

Azure knew that Rachel hurt more than any of them. She and the director were especially close, and it was almost like she lost the father she never had when he died in the fire. That being said, it surprised him and Micah when she smiled the brightest out of all of them and kept everyone together, sort of like a family.

Rachel looked up at Azure and her face colored with the faintest hint of a blush. Azure returned the look with his own smile, one that he seldom gave.

Micah gave him a playful smack on the shoulder before he went to help the others.

…

' _Well, kid, I thought as far as dreams go, we needed a change of pace. What do you think?'_

The peaceful scene of Azure's family enveloped into black flames.

* * *

Azure shot up in a cold sweat and examined the room. It was his room in the Schnee manor again. Still recovering from his sudden shock, he scanned the room until he convinced himself that he wasn't in the middle of a burning building _again_.

Once he was certain his home wasn't in danger, he began to silently weep.

In almost an instant, he heard the door softly opened and he struggled to compose himself before whoever walked in could realize what he was doing. He failed as he was pulled into an embrace before he could cease the flow of tears.

It was an embrace he knew all too well.

"Weiss…? What are you-"

Weiss pulled away to look at his face but didn't fully release him.

"I heard you wake up. I wasn't sure what was happening, so I stood still and listened until I heard you start crying."

Azure, regaining himself bit by bit, gave a response typical of himself.

"So, you were standing outside my door…?"

Weiss scoffed. "Idiot! I-I went to get some water-yeah! Water! A-and on my way back, y-you-"

Further explanation was halted by Azure's playful giggles. Weiss only huffed and crossed her arms.

"Was it the same one?"

…

"No. All the nightmares I've had were all about _that_ day. This one...was nice, until the end."

…

"You wanna talk about it?"

…

"It was an old memory. About my old family."

Weiss shifted uncomfortably at this response. "Oh, I'm sorry...if you don't-"

"No. I never told you about my life before you all brought me in. You deserve to know."

Weiss looked into Azure's heterochromatic eyes. He wasn't crying anymore, and he looked like he genuinely wanted to tell her about his old life.

She nodded. "Okay."

While he never looked away from her, Azure's eyes seemed to travel somewhere else as a nostalgic mood overcame him. "When I was four, I moved out of the house my bastard dad and I lived in. I went to go live at a place called the Brezhnev Orphanage. The guy who ran the place, director Brezhnev, was seriously the coolest guy in the world…"

* * *

A/N: Chapter 2, ladies and gents. While I realize that I only have two followers at the moment, reviews are appreciated. So, please, review.

Also, to be clear, the prologue-Chapter "x" (Probably like 5-6) is gonna be a kind of introduction arc that will explain _most_ of Azure's life before his adoption into the Schnee family. Now, the big stuff I'm saving for the twists later on. Still, this chapter isn't the last time you'll get a taste of the great Micah  & co.. so if you like those characters, great. You'll also be pleasantly surprised later.

Well, that's all for now!

LATER BABES


	4. When We Were Together

The Kingdom of Atlas.

364 days a year, the place was a neatly covered in a nice social blanket. Tourists, even the majority of the citizens, commuted in a neat, clean, friendly city. Everyone was completely and utterly content with their lives in Atlas.

That is, if they weren't part of the working class or a faunus.

Society as a whole was and has been infected with a sort of plague, hatred and discrimination being the root of the problem. People tend to fear things they don't understand, things that are different. They deem these things unacceptable, and proceed to oppress this scary, new thing that's entered their lives. For the close-minded and fossilized bigots of the day, the faunus represent all that they stand against.

From day one, Azure never understood what everyone's problem was.

He let the topic slide for now, though. Today wasn't a day to dwell on all the bad, for every single bad thing about a standard year in Atlas was made up for in good on this day, every year.

December 21st, the day of the Solstice Festival.

It was actually the last festival of the year, with the other three for spring, summer and fall coming beforehand. Azure didn't give a damn, though. He actually loved winter, even if it felt like winter all year until summer rolled around, then right back to the cold. Nobody else really cared, either, since every festival was held outdoors in Central Park where vendors set up, and people danced and sang and played music all throughout the night.

Even though he insisted he hated parties in his younger days, Azure had full confidence in admitting he loved the winter festival unconditionally.

This year's was the best since he'd been adopted into the Schnee family, seeing as he didn't have to sneak out of the manor for once.

With their father away in Mistral for work, the three Schnee kids were left at home with their mother, who was more than happy to go out instead of staying cooped up in the manor like they always were. When she caught Azure trying to sneak out through a window, he was certain he was gonna get the scolding of a lifetime when he told her where he was going.

Then, after he'd answered all her questions, the Schnee mistress called the two girls out and told the three of them to get ready to leave. Azure was like a kid with a new toy when he learned he was going to the festival with his new family.

Fast forward to the four in the park, Winter and her mother playing a ring toss game while Azure and Weiss watched from a few feet away. Weiss looked rather bored, while Azure was practically shaking with excitement.

"What's so great about this dumb festival? It's just a bunch of poor people throwing away their lien." Weiss deadpanned as she looked around the crowd.

Azure stuck a stupid grin on his face, a trait he'd picked up from Micah. "Well, Weiss, I don't expect you to understand, even if the answer is being shoved right in your face. I guess some people don't quite get the finer things in life."

He reckoned he pushed a button of hers pretty hard with that.

"Don't be a pain! It's just, this is my first time actually going to a festival as opposed to just hearing about it from you. You made it sound really fun, but I just see…"

Weiss trailed off as a young faunus boy and his mother walked by, as if to complete her thought. Azure was a little disappointed that a thought he was saving for later just came back full-force. He was also a little disappointed in Weiss for thinking like that, but he knew he couldn't go off on her completely.

"You know, animal ears don't make a bad person."

"What are you talking about? Faunus walking around in the open is just like inviting the White Fang to come and cause some trouble. Surely you understand that."

It was sad to see that some of their father had rubbed off on Weiss. "Just because someone is a faunus doesn't mean they're in the White Fang, and just because the White Fang does bad stuff doesn't mean that all faunus do bad things."

Weiss shot him a pointed glare. "The way you said that doesn't eliminate the possibility of a faunus that isn't in the White Fang committing a crime."

Azure met her gaze with his own glare. "Because _bad_ _people do bad things_ , regardless."

Weiss' glare diminished and was replaced with a look of nervousness. Azure decided that last retort had come out a little more harsh than he'd intended.

Weiss just looked at the ground. "Um...do you like the festival...because of the orphanage?"

She certainly was quick to change the subject. After that argument, though, it was a welcome change. Azure felt around in his pockets and found some lien he'd been saving from whenever he snuck out of the manor to do some odd jobs.

"Hey mother! Weiss and I are gonna go get some ice cream!"

Their mother only nodded in acknowledgement as she worked to contain Winter's outburst at the mention of sweets. "GET ME BANANA SPLIT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!"

Azure waved her off as he motioned for Weiss to join him. He was grateful that their mother wasn't so strict like big Mr. Schnee, and also that she knew how to keep a secret.

His lien investments weren't going to be brought to light anytime soon.

The best ice cream stand was a ways away from where Azure and Weiss were right now, and as long as they were by themselves, he could tell his story no problem.

"So, you wanna know why I like the winter festival so much?"

Weiss nodded in response.

"Well, the one time I went to the festival when I lived at the orphanage, I was more or less dragged out there…"

* * *

"Tell me again why you brought me here."

To say that Azure was unhappy right now was an understatement. He was enjoying himself an hour or so ago, resting in the tree at the orphanage before Micah swept up, pulled him down as the rest of the kids helped him drag poor little Azure to some dumb gathering.

He was beyond annoyed.

The only thing that made it worse was Micah's cheery disposition about the whole thing. "Come on buddy, the winter festival only rolls around once a year! With all of us going out, we wouldn't want you to miss it!"

Azure stared blankly at him. "You think I buy that?"

Micah's grin flipped and he let out an honest sigh. "I know you didn't wanna come, but everyone else did. The director said we could only go if _you_ came too." Once his explanation finished, Micah's smile came back and he threw an arm around his friend's neck. "So, lighten up a bit man! You're not here for you, you're here for the kids!"

Azure huffed, not being able to argue with that. While Thomas and Jonah weren't too keen on him coming, Rachel, along with Ken's brigade, were really glad he came out.

So, he at least had to fake it for them if nobody else.

"Alright, fine, I give, dammit!"

"Ah-ah-ah, language~"

"Screw off. Director's not here, neither are the kids."

That last remark, despite the fact that he'd said it himself, got the gears in Azure's mind moving. "Say, where are the kids?"

Micah, as always, was quick to the point. "Rachel took them off to some game at the end of this row of awnings."

Made sense. The gears in his head slowed down a bit. Just as he was about to loosen up…

"BOOOOOOSS!"

His thoughts were on the fritz now.

"Hey, was that Ken?" Azure turned to Micah for some response. He just returned the glance and they both broke into a spring down the walkway.

A couple seconds later, Yo's little body flew out from behind the bathrooms.

"Micah, check on him!"

Azure went to see behind the bathrooms as Micah made sure Yo wasn't hurt. What they both saw there wasn't the slightest bit okay.

Yo hadn't been hurt too bad, and they understood why.

In front the two boys now was another group of three jerky kids that had thought _now_ was a good time to play the bully. One had Ken in a headlock while the little bear faunus tried to break out, another held Mika against the wall while she wailed…

And the third, an unhealthily pudgy bastard, had Rachel on her knees while he pulled on her little ears. She was begging him to stop, clearly afraid, hurt, and worst of all for Azure and Micah, she was crying.

Micah disliked violence, so the scene before him compelled his thoughts to make a strategy that could possibly get everyone away from here without getting someone hurt.

Azure, thought, was different. He'd decided these punks were gonna regret coming to the festival.

Scratch that.

These little _shits_ were gonna regret even being born.

"Hey."

The three punks all turned to look at him. The two with Ken and Mika shrunk a little.

They met the gaze of someone who was absolutely _livid_ with what he was seeing.

The pudgy one threw Rachel away. "Who are you? You some sympathizer or somethin'? Hate to break it to ya pal, but right now, we're in the middle of somethin'."

Azure simply met his gaze. "That so? Well, hate to break it to you, but your little operation stops _now_."

The pudgy one took a few steps forward and picked Rachel up by one of her ears again. The other two regained their misplaced confidence. "Ha-ha, real funny, pal. Now," He pulled Rachel up to his level as she yelped in pain, new tears streaming out. "You look at this and see somethin' you gonna defend? May be it's his pet or somethin' boys! Ain't that just cute!"

The three bullies all erupted into laughter. Micah's trademark cheerfulness was replaced with a pointed glare at the three.

Azure took action and grabbed the kid on the right, forcing him to release Ken. He then held the bully's arm out straight and brought an elbow down on it hard, effectively breaking it. The kid only screamed in pain while the other two stopped laughing and stared in shock at what happened. They weren't the only ones, as Micah, Rachel and the Ken brigade all looked with equal amounts of surprise.

Azure shoved the bully into the wall and said quietly, "Now, if you two don't wanna end up _worse_ , I suggest you drop the girl and the kid, and scram."

The second bully let go of Mika and backed up, but the pudgy one wasn't quite convinced. "Huh, you think you can just hurt onea' my guys and waltz on outta here? Damn, son, you ah dummba than you-"

Azure cut him off with a punch to the stomach and a knee to the face. When he was on the ground, blood seeping from his now broken nose, Azure got right on top of the pudge and gave a complementary punch to the face.

"Well, it's only right that I pay you back for hurting my _family_ , eh?"

The bully only looked at him crying and confused. "Wh-why would you call them family? So they are your pets-"

Three swift punches and the jerk's head shoved back into the ground.

"They're my brothers and sisters, you bastard!"

Azure brought up another fist, but someone grabbed a hold of his wrist. He turned, and heated green orbs met with cool, onyx ones.

"It's done, Azure, let's just leave."

While he was hesitant at first, looking back and seeing Rachel staring at him, eyes wide with fear, was enough to make him realize enough was enough.

Micah, still uncharacteristically calm, helped him up off the pudgy bully, who still looked unsure of what to do.

" _Beat it_."

Not wanting to incur more of Azure's wrath, the pudgy kid got up and the three of them ran off in fear.

* * *

All Azure wanted to do now was go home. He was surprised that, of all people, Rachel and the kids were the ones who wanted to stay. It just went to prove to Azure again how strong they all really were.

Even Micah had lightened up since the fight. He reasoned that as long as Rachel was cool with staying, 'what could be so wrong?' It was so like him, sucking up to her.

Right now, Azure sat on the base of the statue in the middle of the park, where the whole festival had gathered for a huge dance. People swayed back and forth, the band beat their drums and blew their horns, and kids ran around, all playing together.

Azure scanned over to his right and saw Thomas and Jonah. Typical of them, standing off to the side, acting like they were all too cool for this. He supposed they had their arms twisted into coming like he was.

Over to the left. Micah was playing with Ken's group and a couple other of the local kids. Right now they all jumped on him, since he was the oldest, and therefore tallest kid. Azure expected as much, Micah was just like that.

He looked back in front and gaped slightly. Right in the center of his vision, Rachel was dancing in the crowd. It was the first time Azure noticed her improvement in mood since an hour ago. But what he also took in for the first time was _her_.

The skirt of her blue and white dress seemed to dance with every twirl. Her burning orange hair, untied from its usual braid, shined brightly under the lanterns in the park. And her eyes...her blue orbs glimmered with genuine glee.

Azure couldn't quite find a word to describe how she looked in that moment.

All of a sudden, time seemed to slow with a twirl that sent her facing him. Hair dancing in the winter air, eyes gleaming as they met with his, that smile she gave…

He found the word. She looked absolutely beautiful.

Before he realized it, she was right in front of him, looking straight into his eyes. When he realized he'd been staring, he turned away as he tried to will the burning in his face to stop.

"Wanna dance?"

He glanced at her to the side, giving a questioning motion.

"Dance! You know, like you were just watching me?"

Azure felt his face heat up again. "I-I wasn't watching you!"

Rachel tilted her head in mock confusion. "Oh really? I could've sworn you were staring, almost like you were _mesmerized_!"

Azure huffed in annoyance while Rachel triumphantly giggled at her successful tease.

"But seriously, you wanna? Consider it my thanks for earlier."

Now Azure was really confused. "Thanks? But...but I-"

"Nuh-uh. I know you got carried away, and I was scared, sure, but I knew that you only got mad like that because those meanies were hurting me and the kids. You didn't do what you did because you just wanted to beat them up, you did it because you care about us." Rachel shuffled her feet a little as a blush came on. "Just like the director brought us in because he has a big heart, you defended us because yours is just as big!"

Azure only returned her praise with his rare, real smile. "Thanks Rachel."

"So, you wanna dance or what?"

"Nah, let's do this right."

Azure leaped off the statue and held out his hand in a mock flourish. "May I have this dance, madame?"

Rachel giggled at his silliness, but played along by giving a curtsey before taking his hand. "You may, my good sir."

The two took off back into the crowd, and they danced until a man announced over the speakers that the fireworks were about to start.

With the kids all super excited, the orphanage group bounded over to a nearby hill to get the best seats in the house. When everyone was present, Azure only welcomed Rachel as she sat next to him by scratching behind her little fox ears. She responded by leaning appreciatively into him.

* * *

11:30, way past the orphanage group's normal lights out.

The night's events were written clearly across all their faces. While Thomas and Jonah took off ahead as to avoid carrying one of the kids, Azure and Micah took it upon themselves to make sure they all got back without keeling over from exhaustion. Micah was carrying Mika in his arms as she slept while Ken and Yo gripped his pant legs to avoid getting lost, and Azure carried a sleeping Rachel on his back. Micah made some joke about 'a noble knight carrying his princess to the castle.' Azure almost kicked him.

When they all made it to the orphanage, a large figure sat on the steps.

"Well, I see everyone made it back in one piece, even if not conscious!"

Azure and Micah laughed. "Thanks for letting us go to the festival, Mr. director."

"Not at all, not at all! You kids deserve some fun every once in a while."

Giving their goodnights, the group made their way to the door.

"Azure, a word?"

Damn, this wasn't gonna be good.

"Hey, Rach. Wake up."

Rachel gave a hum of annoyance before opening her eyes.

"Go on to bed, okay? I gotta talk to the director."

Azure set her down as she gave a nod in response. Azure and the director waited for her to go inside before talking.

"What's this about now?" Azure knew that these talks were never about something good, so he was already on the defensive.

The director only knelt down and sighed. "This is about that smudge on your shirt."

Azure glanced down. His white shirt had only one blemish on it, just a speck of what looked like blood.

Dammit.

"What happened? Tell me the truth."

Why bother? Not like he'd understand anyway.

"A few punks were picking on Ken, Mika and Rachel. I had to do _something_!"

Azure felt a lump in his throat as he tried to make the director understand.

The director let out another sigh. He knew what was coming.

…

"Alright."

…

What?

"Wha...what do you mean, 'alright'? Aren't you gonna lecture me, or tell me I was being reckless, or-"

The director cut him off with a hand on his shoulder. "It's true, I think you might have been a little reckless in you decision. But, in the end, you didn't fight for yourself this time."

Azure only looked at him, asking to explain.

"You didn't fight those bullies because they picked on you, you fought them because you wanted to protect your brothers and sisters. I'm not one for violence, Azure, but when the situation calls for it, that's a respectable purpose if I ever heard one."

Azure only stared at the director as he stood up. "Never lose that compassion. It's your drive to protect those that are important to you that will give you strength. I was afraid of how you'd turn out, seeing as you always get into fights when someone provokes you. Now, though, you've fought for others, which is something I can respect."

The director finished his speech with words that would become Azure's entire being.

"Keep getting stronger, and don't fight out of hatred or spite. If you fight, fight to protect. Whether it be for those close to you, or for people who can't stand for themselves, what matters is that you lend your strength to those who need it. Keep getting stronger, so you can make other people strong and do good in this world."

* * *

Azure just finished his story with a matter-of-fact tone as he and Weiss walked back to Winter and their mother, ice cream in hand.

Weiss couldn't help but look at her brother in a new light. Six years; six whole years since the blond started living with them and now she understood him better than anyone in her family, all because of a single story. She finally understood why he was so protective of all of them, why he was so unconditionally attached to mother and why he was so gentle and caring with Winter and herself.

He'd just stated his whole purpose in life like it was nothing. To Weiss, it spoke leaps and bounds about just what kind of person Azure Schnee was.

She gave him a warm smile. "You're the ideal hunter, you know."

Azure glanced over and gave a sheepish grin. "You think so? I mean, it's only right…"

"Exactly, Azure. It's only right to you that you help people. Isn't that what hunters do?"

He seemed to mull this over. "I guess. Speaking of hunters and such, how's your training going?"

Weiss took a proud posture. "I don't mean to brag, but I've been doing quite well. You see, I've already discovered my semblance, and I've been getting exceptional grades on all my combat instructions-"

"Blah, blah, blah, I'm Weiss, so much better than you, bleh."

Her pride turned to irritation. "What did I say about being a pain? What about you, then?!"

Azure explained after he recovered from his laugh. "I can't say I'm doing too bad, either. Aura control's extremely advanced for my age, or so I've been told. Combat's pretty good, too. My instructor wants to start on dust, but I say to hell with that. I don't need dust, I've got Take-Mikazuchi, and that's enough for me."

The fact that he'd said all that like he was bored of it was appalling. Weiss only gave a deadpan stare in response.

"Well, you might wanna, at least, _consider_ dust if it works with your semblance, like mine."

"My semblance is more powerful than any fire dust our company can shove out. Like, seriously, flames that I have _complete_ control over. I think I'm covered."

An irritated sigh. "Fine, be that way."

Weiss still couldn't wrap her head around why he was so simple with his combat choices. His combat gear was just that green jacket he always wore, and his weapon…

No bells and whistles there. It was just a plain old katana. Bland.

Her thoughts were interrupted by an excited Winter bounding up.

"Hey hey Azure! Did you get my banana split?!"

"Yeah, but looking at it now, I think I want this instead. You can have my vanilla."

"NO WAY! I WANT MY BANANA SPLIT!"

Azure, Weiss and their mother all laughed at Winter's expense.

When Weiss looked over at Azure, though, she saw him talking to Winter with something in his eye. What was it? She racked her head around every single emotion that she could possibly use to explain what she saw. Happiness? Content?...

"Love."

…

She turned over to her mother, whom she didn't even realize was beside her until now.

…

"That glimmer in his eye is love, Weiss."

…

Oh, that made sense.

She turned back to Azure, who was now letting Winter try some of his ice cream. She felt something in her chest as she looked at his soft eyes and warm smile.

…

Maybe this is love, too.

…

Well, he's her brother. Of course she loves him.

…

Then again, he's not connected to any of them by blood. His blond hair and heterochrome eyes said as much.

…

Was it okay for her love to be different…?

* * *

A/N: Fluff, fluff, and more fluff. I honestly didn't expect this one to be as long. I guess I had more to tell about this since I'd spent some time thinking it over before writing this chapter. Hell, _several_ things happened in the middle of writing it. The whole exchanges between Azure and Weiss just kinda _came out_. I didn't even plan on starting the chapter like that, It was just gonna go straight into flashback town and ride that train all the way back to present. I dunno. All in all, I feel good about this one.

Well, you know the drill. Follow! Favorite! REVIEW!

And that's about it!

LATER~


	5. Agony

Azure's heart was racing.

The longer he spent searching, the harder it was getting to get a good breath of air in.

His eyes watered, and he was covered in soot.

"Ken! Ken, where are you?!"

But he couldn't stop now.

Finally he found the bear kid cowering in his bed, while flames crept menacingly across the floorboards towards him. Azure didn't really think, he just ran over and grabbed Ken while barely escaping the flames with a burn on his arm.

"Boss! Where are the others?"

"I think everyone's safe, the only ones that should still be in here are us, the director…"

And that new girl. Did she do this? She couldn't have...could she…?

Azure wasn't going to dwell on it, not while he and Ken were still at risk of burning alive.

"Ken, hold on to me. We're gonna find the director."

He felt the kid's nod of agreement as he ran out of the room with Ken on his back. Sprinting down the hallway while attempting to avoid the fire around them, Azure was able to get out unharmed and proceeded down the stairs. The supports were much weaker than he figured, as the left side collapsed on him and the two children were sent plummeting towards the ground floor.

Thinking quickly, Azure pulled Ken to his chest and maneuvered such that he fell to the floor back-first, sparring Ken the fall damage.

Coming to his senses, Azure scanned the room around him. The front door was completely blocked off by flames; exit strategy one, out of the question. Only one other place to go.

Azure picked Ken back up and ran to the kitchen/dining room. If they were lucky, the back door would still be safe and they could run around the building to the front.

What they found, however, was much more unfortunate than a blocked exit.

At Azure's feet was the director, clutching his arm in a pool of blood. Azure instinctively forced Ken to look away.

"D-director? What happened?"

Azure looked up for his answer. There were three figures before him, two large with a smaller one in the middle. He couldn't make out the larger ones, all he could see was one lining the floor with a liquid from a tank, while the second lit a match and threw it to the floor.

Even through the gasoline flames, Azure knew who the third was.

"Blake! What's going on?! Don't tell me you…"

Blake only looked at him with what he assumed was sorrow. The three figures turned and left through the back door, now painfully out of Azure's reach.

Why did she leave?

Did she do all this?

Was he gonna die?

…

"Az...ure…"

…

"Mr. director, I'm gonna get you out of here! Both of you, even if I have to stay-"

"Come here."

...

Azure complied and moved towards the director. He didn't even care his pants were covered in blood now.

"Hold out your hand."

He did. The director placed something there.

"This...was your mother's. The night she died, she gave it to your father to give to you. I know he never did, but just a week ago...your father told me where he'd left it and that he'd wanted you to have it. Take Ken and run...live, Azure...for your mother, and for all your brothers and sisters."

Azure could feel the tears streaming down his face.

"Live, and grow strong."

* * *

"Let me go, Micah! We have to go back in!"

"Don't, Rachel! Everyone's gonna be fine, Azure and the director will come out with Ken, Thomas, Jonah and Blake any minute now!"

From the sidewalk across the street, Micah stood with Rachel, Mika and Yo as they watched their home burn down. They'd all been woken up by the smell of smoke and the heat, and before anyone could ask what happened, he and Azure were getting everyone out.

Once they'd all escaped, Azure didn't give any warning before he'd run back in to find the others. Micah swore he saw the figures of Thomas and Jonah in one of the second floor windows as it exploded into a vicious blaze that broke the windows, but he didn't want to think about that. He put more effort into not thinking about Blake's absence altogether.

As much as it was probably wishful thinking, he wanted to believe that everyone would come out okay.

Rachel was uneasy, though. As much as Micah tried to hold her back, she still wanted to head back into the burning building and help Azure get people out. He wasn't gonna risk it.

He was even more unnerved that Mika and Yo barely made a sound, even though their friend and leader Ken was still inside.

Crash.

Something flew out of the kitchen window. The figure stood up and staggered over towards the group of orphans.

"Azure!"

"Azure, are you okay?!"

"Boss! Ken!"

Azure didn't respond, only looking up with tears in his eyes. A crackling was heard, and all eyes laid back on the orphanage.

…

The building collapsed before them.

…

Their home was gone.

…

The kids all erupted into sobs. Rachel fell into Azure as she clutched his chest and shed her own tears.

…

Micah fell to his knees, in a state of shock and disbelief.

…

Azure only opened his hand to look at his mother's necklace. Her keepsake. His memento.

He clenched it in his fist again and embraced the crying fox girl.

His home was gone again, but he hadn't lost his family.

* * *

Azure awoke and silently sat up in his bed.

He assured himself that he was still in his room at the Schnee manor.

Scanning the plain yet elegant white room, he silently wiped the stale tears from his face and got up. When he opened the door, he was greeted by a worried Weiss.

"So you _do_ stand outside my door at night." He put on a smile to relax her.

She didn't. "Another bad dream?"

His smile faded. "I'm fine, Weiss. I'm just going to the bathroom."

"You look like you've been crying."

"I'm fine."

Before she could say anything else, he turned and walked down the hall. Something compelled him to stop, though.

"...Weiss?"

He heard her hum in acknowledgement.

"Am...am I strong?"

Silence.

"Coming from a girl who's lived her entire life secluded in a mansion, you're the strongest person I know."

More silence.

"You know that's gonna change, though."

Azure turned to meet her gaze, giving his own questioning look.

"We're heading to Beacon in a month. When we get there, we're going to meet teachers, hunters, probably even _students_ who are leagues stronger than both of us. If you're asking this now, are you sure you're prepared to take on hunter training?"

Azure and Weiss stood in the hall in a sort of staring contest for what felt like minutes. Weiss was legitimately concerned; it wasn't like Azure to doubt himself at _any_ given moment, so for him to ask something like that right before they left…

"I'm not doubting myself. I know I've worked hard, we both have. I just needed to remind myself why I'm doing this."

Now it was Weiss' turn to be confused.

"I know what my purpose is, I wanna protect people. You, Winter, anyone I can reach out to. I know if I want to keep doing that, I need to get stronger."

Weiss smiled at him. "Well, when you put it like that, I think you're plenty strong. But what I said still stands."

"I know. That's why I'm gonna work to keep getting stronger. If I'm not as strong as I can be, I'm not doing my best as a hunter. So, teachers, students, hell, even that pompous headmaster-"

He shot his signature cocky grin. "Bring it on."

* * *

Azure woke the next morning and got ready for the day. He had one place to stop before he ate and went to training.

Walking down the hallway to the entrance of the garden, he felt a ball of fluff scurry up his chest and onto his head.

"Hey, Neko. Good to see you're not attacking me for once."

Neko meowed his content as he settled himself on Azure's head.

When he finally reached his destination, Neko lept off his head and settled in the grass nearby. Azure walked to the center of three black, square pillars in a triangle to a single, white memorial.

"Hey mom. Is it cool if I call you mom? I've always felt 'mother' was too, well, formal."

* * *

Damn. Damn. Damn damn damn damn!

Why was this happening _again_?

Azure stood in shock in front of his father's desk. Weiss and Winter were to his left, both weeping as they held each other. The Schnee head looked indifferent as ever.

He was seemingly emotionless as he told the three world-shattering news.

The White Fang had bombed a transport ship heading from Vale to Atlas.

Their mother had been on board.

She had been counted among the dead.

"The only survivor was one of the assailants. He confirmed to officials that the only reason they targeted the ship was because they knew your mother was on board. If you want to blame someone, blame those filthy faunus."

If it wasn't bad enough that their mother had been killed, that bastard of a father was trying to throwing the blame at the faunus in general, not just the White Fang. Azure's blood was reaching a boiling point.

"...I...hate them all…"

He knew that was Weiss' voice, even through the breaks and quivers.

He turned and left the office.

Once he was out of the office, his storming walk picked a brisk pace. Soon enough, that pace turned into a run. He ran down the hall all the way to the garden. Once he was there, he just walked to the fountain and fell to his knees in front of it.

Spring was coming. They'd just turned the water on.

Mother loved when the fountain was running.

Azure's will finally broke as he silently wept, not bothering to wipe away the tears.

For the second time in his life, he'd lost his mother.

And for the second time, he felt like his family was falling apart.

Years ago, he wasn't as oblivious as most adults thought children were. Sure, he was only six, but he'd understood why his real dad turned out the way he did after his mom died.

He'd become a bastard, because he grew to hate the world that took his wife away.

Did he handle it in the best way? No, but Azure understood. The adults didn't think so, the director might've. But the bottom line was, he wasn't blind. He'd seen first-hand what hatred did to people.

Just now, he'd seen his second bastard father breathe more hatred into his children, who were all too ready to accept it.

Damn!

He wasn't sure how long he sat in front of the fountain. He'd been aware that Neko showed up at some point, and had only taken a seat beside him. The only thing that broke him of his trance was Weiss.

"...I'm going to stop the White Fang, Weiss."

He didn't bother to look at her. He knew what was coming.

"You can't really expect to stop all the faunus-"

"That's not what I mean!"

Only now did Azure stand up and turn to her.

"I'm not buying into what father tells us. I'm not gonna just blindly direct all my anger and frustration at people who did nothing wrong."

Disbelief overtook Weiss. Before she could protest,

"What I am going to do is make sure that the people who _did_ do this can't cause any more suffering."

A bit of his old self had come back. Sure, he picked up a cheery attitude from Micah and decided he'd use it with his new family, but that other, angsty kid never left. He'd just grown up a bit.

"I'm going to stop the White Fang. No more innocent faunus are gonna take the flak for _their_ crimes. And nobody else is gonna die like mother."

* * *

' _Two years, eh? Been awhile since_ that _little family meeting'_

Azure stood up from the headstone and turned to the pillar on his right. He met his reflection in the stone, but what he saw was different from himself.

The heterochrome eyes were replaced with deep, scarlet ones, and the reflection had a smug grin on his face while Azure's actual face remained stern.

"Weird that you're here. You never bother to really talk to me."

' _Don't be like that buddy! Sure, we haven't really talked since...well, you know, but that's not the point! Let's get along now, okay?'_

"Shut the hell up."

' _My goodness, you're a fierce one! Why don't we...ah, hell, you're not gonna listen.'_

This smug little shit was trying Azure's patience.

"You came out for a reason, so tell me what you wanna tell me and go away."

Now this guy was satisfied. He really _was_ hitting a nerve.

' _First off, we weren't really well-introduced last time. I mean, I already know your name, Azure Schnee. Or do you prefer Brezhnev? Who cares, anyways,'_

Crimson eyes flared at green and amber.

' _Call me Agony. It's what I make after all, what I feed off.'_

Azure didn't give a damn about this asshole's name, he just wanted him to leave.

"You done?"

' _Not quite. There's one more thing I need to explain, but first, a question. What's it like being the brave, noble hero?'_

Where does this guy get off? "It was either me or her. After a couple years of knowing her, I think you'd be a little stuffed in there, anyways."

' _Right. Well, your pride in your decision is misplaced, nonetheless.'_

"Excuse me?"

' _You've got some special type of bravery, see. Bravery like yours comes with a price. You may think you were being noble, jumping into the fray for a complete stranger, but here's the thing;'_

Boy and reflection stood, unfazed.

' _You're playing by my rules now.'_

…

Not moving.

…

Just staring.

…

"What's the name of the game?"

For once, the reflection's grin flipped.

' _Let's call it a game of cards. You humans play lots of games with those.'_

Azure smirked. "If that's the case, isn't the only option to play with the hand I'm given?"

Another staredown ensued.

"Go ahead and make your rules. I said it before and I'll say it again. I don't care what you need. I'll play your stupid game, because in the end...well, I play to win."

The reflection started to fade back into Azure's real body..

' _Suit yourself, kid. Oh, and rest assured, the game's gonna be lots of fun for both of us.'_

With that, Azure was alone again.

"Azure."

Nevermind.

"What's up, Weiss?"

He glanced down at the bundle she was carrying.

"This is for you."

Azure was confused, to say the least. Everything cleared up as it was handed to him.

He unfolded the bundle to find that it was a new jacket. One that…

"Didn't mother make this?"

Weiss nodded. "She hadn't finished it before she passed. When I found it, I knew what it was right away, so I had it finished, with a few of my own touches, that is."

Azure could see what she meant. It was a jacket just like his current green one, reaching down to his thighs. This one, however, was a deep blue and had a hood with fur lining as opposed to his current one, which just had a collar.

He knew the hood was Weiss. The blue, however…

…

It was the same color as his old hoodie. The one he had when he lived on the streets, and the one he wore when the Schnee's took him in.

…

He pulled something out of the pocket of his jacket before stripping it from himself.

…

He placed his first mother's keepsake across his neck, and his second mother's gift on his shoulders.

…

"Weiss, Beacon doesn't stand a chance."

* * *

A/N: I'll be honest. This one felt weird past the dream sequence. But, hey, I got through everything I really wanted to cover for this intro arc and I feel like I didn't mince any words.

If I did, though, I would appreciate it if someone left a review. For once. *Passive-aggressiveness intensifies*

But, anyways. That's a wrap. Off to Beacon next chapter! Shenanigans ensue, friendships form, and most importantly, strip-UH-shipteasing skyrockets.

So, yeah.

Later babes~


	6. Arrival

**PHENOMENON DETECTED**

 _ **Place an order to exterminate. We can't have any interruptions at this point.**_

 **WITH ALL DUE RESPECT S, A IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN PLACE SUCH ORDERS**

 **Before we do anything, we must know what this phenomenon is. K, analyze.**

 **ANALYZING...COMPLETE/ PHENOMENON IDENTIFIED AS HUMAN, IDENTITY: AZURE SCHNEE/ AGE: 17/ HEIGHT: 5'7/ HAIR: BLOND/ EYE COLOR: GREEN-AMBER/ PHENOMENON CLASS 'S'/ SUBJECT IS IN POSSESSION OF TWO CLASS 'A' PHENOMENON**

 **Two?**

 _ **This is why we must move to destroy!**_

 **No, we're not fully aware of his abilities. What are these phenomenon, K?**

 **ANALYZING...COMPLETE/ SUBJECT'S BODY IS CO-INHABITED BY AN UNKNOWN VARIABLE/ THIS VARIABLE HAS BEEN UNACCOUNTED FOR SINCE THE COLLAPSE NINE YEARS AGO/ VARIABLE IDENTIFIED AS: THE KING OF AGONY/ SUBJECT IS ALSO IN POSSESSION OF ONE OF OUR MISSING MODERATORS/ MODERATOR IDENTIFIED AS: TAKE-MIKAZUCHI**

 **So T is alive.**

 _ **It would appear so.**_

 **Do you still wish to intervene, S?**

 _ **I do. However, I suggest we exercise caution in approaching The King of Agony's vessel.**_

 **I would not disagree. K, what is the current state of the subject?**

 **ANALYZING...COMPLETE/ AZURE SCHNEE IS ACTING INDEPENDENTLY OF THE KING OF AGONY, AND VICE-VERSA/ THE PRESENCE OF TAKE-MIKAZUCHI IS SEEMINGLY PLACING A BARRIER BETWEEN THE KING OF AGONY AND AZURE SCHNEE'S SOUL/ IT IS MY ASSUMPTION THAT TAKE-MIKAZUCHI IS USING IT'S POWER TO PROTECT AZURE SCHNEE FROM BEING COMPLETELY TAKEN OVER**

 **It is as I suspected. T warned us of a disturbance in the timeline before he went missing in the collapse. There is no doubt in my mind that The King of Agony has a plan, and he plans to use Azure Schnee to reach this goal. T is working against him.**

 _ **It would have been nice if he'd let us know before acting.**_

 **If he had told us, the council would act against him and everything would have no doubt played in The King of Agony's favor. T is buying us some time to find a solution to the problem at hand; The King of Agony. A threat we've been trying to identify for nine years, and now we have the knowledge necessary to devise a counter-offensive. K, the subject's location?**

 **ANALYZING...COMPLETE/ AZURE SCHNEE IS CURRENTLY SETTING DOWN IN A TRANSPORT AT BEACON ACADEMY**

 _ **Three of our allies are currently there. Two observers and a knight.**_

 **We'll leave it in their hands for now. While the knight and one observer are inexperienced, the third observer is possibly our most trusted asset at the moment.**

 _ **Very well. I hope you know what you're doing, A.**_

 **Only time will tell. K, end and delete.**

 **AFFIRMATIVE. ENDING PROCESS ' '/ SHUTTING DOWN**

…

' _So, they know a fair amount already. Ah, shucks. They're no fun.'_

* * *

Weiss stepped off the transport and took in the structure before her. Beacon Academy, the most renowned and prestigious hunter academy in Remnant stood as elegant as it's praises.

Seeing as she'd grown up in the very essence of elegance, though, she was hardly impressed. Although, it didn't take her imagination to know that Azure would be beaming at the campus the second he stepped foot off the transport.

Speaking of which, she hadn't seen him. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't even heard him speak since she'd woken up from her nap halfway through the flight.

Oh no. Did they _actually_ leave him behind?

Her question was answered as a storage compartment on the bottom opened, accompanied by some tumbling and snores.

Weiss swore she was going to have an aneurysm.

There, laying across from her feet, was Azure, fast asleep. Well, he _was_ fast asleep, as the tumble caused him to slowly come to and look drowsily at the irritated heiress before him. He only really came to his senses when her hand made contact with his face and left a mark on his pale skin.

Now he was awake.

"Hey Weiss, mornin'. Uh, what was that for?"

He glanced up at his sister. She was wearing her usual combat attire, a white bolero jacket that faded to blue at the sleeves, on top of a white "combat skirt" as she liked to call it, all completed with her high heel boots.

"Did you seriously just spend the whole ride in the storage compartment?"

"Yeah, of course. I'm not spending an entire trip in the transport's seats. It's too cramped in that damn thing."

"And less cramped in storage."

"If I can lay down, I win."

Weiss let out an exasperated sigh before turning and walking away. Azure chuckled, and picked up his only bag while servants bustled around to get all of Weiss' luggage together.

Azure headed off in Weiss' direction. He was sporting his typical attire today, the dark blue jacket with fur around the hood that his Schnee mother (and Weiss, to some extent.) had made for him over a black v-neck that showed off his slim, yet defined figure. His outfit was finished off with some red pants that hugged his figure and simple black boots. As always, his biological mother's necklace that bore his crest, a hexagonal arrangement of beams intercepting a flower in the middle, hung from his neck. His katana, Take-Mikazuchi, was held by a sling on his back.

He walked down the stone walkway, head turning to and fro to take in and admire the castle that was Beacon.

'Damn, that tower's huge! I guess the headmaster's office is up there. Woah, nice statue! That ursa's screwed! Or is that a beowolf?'

His thoughts were rudely interrupted by a human wall.

Azure and the other student ran square into each other, both falling on their bottoms as they rubbed their throbbing foreheads.

As Azure regained his bearings, he immediately felt bad that his carelessness had caused him such a clumsy collision. "Hey man, you alright? Sorry I wasn't-"

Azure's apology was cut short when the other boy shot quickly to his feet, almost hitting heads _again_. "No worries man, I'm cool! Super cool! I mean, it's not every day you get to run into a guy like me!"

"Uh...what do you mean?" Azure asked, confused.

Now analyzing the boy in front of him, he noticed that his hair was an unnatural yellow, like it had been dyed. Physically, the kid was no taller than Azure and had oddly colored yellow eyes, matching his hair. He wore a simple white hoodie with black pants and light brown shoes.

"What do you mean, what do I mean? Obviously you're in luck, my friend! You've run into the top dog, the head honcho, the number one hottie in all of Vale! And now that he's been accepted into Beacon, no woman will cross his path without _swooning_ over him!"

Now the kid hopped onto a nearby bench and shouted, "Kida Ishimura, at your service!"

Azure gave Kida a funny look. This kid wasn't for real, right? He would soon find his answer as Kida hopped off the bench and stood in front of him.

"Now, as apology for our untimely collision, what can I do for you, friend? Maybe I can take you under my wing, and you can be just as much of a lady killer as me! What do you say?"

Before Azure could politely decline, a hand placed itself firmly on Kida's head and picked him up off the ground. Azure was too fixated on the hulking figure before him to notice that Kida's stupid grin hadn't left him for a second.

"Oh, hey Byakuya! Give up on meeting new people so soon?"

The new human tower that was now known as Byakuya grunted. "Yeah, sure, if by meeting new people, you mean getting ditched by you."

"Come on, you know I was doing you some good!"

"Like hell! You left me to clean up that mess all by myself!"

"Well, that's what you get for losing your temper!"

"Dammit, Kida!"

Azure could tell these two had been in an uneasy friendship for a long time. Byakuya, the brute before him, had spiky black hair and yellow eyes, slightly lighter than Kida's shade. He stood at a good, Azure guessed, six-foot-five and had toned, tan skin. Attire, he wore a black muscle shirt with a white denim vest over the top, black pants and black boots. The one thing that added to his already intimidating height was that he was absolutely _ripped_.

While fixated on the argument these two "friends" were locked in, Azure noticed something out of the corner of his eye and moved away to investigate.

* * *

"You know, Byakuya, you could've just given me some of your cake and we'd be even! Eh?"

"Screw you! We were ten when that happened!"

"Hate to interrupt, but you're kinda ignoring my new protege...wha?"

Where Kida's chance encounter had been standing moments before was now empty.

"Oh yeah, that blond kid? Looked kinda like a pansy?"

"That's the one!"

Byakuya caught a glimpse of the blonde as he was approaching Kida, but disregarded him since he wasn't the one he needed to pummel. Not that any pummeling was happening.

It was in this confusion that they both heard an explosion.

"Wh-what the hell?" Byakuya stuttered.

"What was that? It sounded like it came from over…"

In the direction of the explosion, all they'd seen was Azure, looking ready to double over in laughter.

"...there."

* * *

Azure had seen the _whole_ thing. Some girl in a red hood had the misfortune of stumbling across Weiss in a mood. From what he assumed was dizziness, the girl fell over backwards and landed in Weiss' bags that she was carrying her dust in. As multiple bags fell open, Weiss proceeded to scold the girl for her irresponsibility all while waving a broken vial of dust in her face.

Azure could see that she was about to sneeze from the dust that was leaking out. He could have run to her rescue, plugging her nose and saving her some of his sister's rage…

...but, that wasn't any fun.

So, he just sat and watched as the red girl sneezed a storm of fire, lightning, ice? Maybe some ice.

While he was snickering now, he would hardly be able to contain himself in a minute. As the smoke from the dust cleared, the two girls seemed to be jumping right into an argument until another girl with a black bow came up. The newcomer informed red on Weiss' status as heiress of the SDC, something Weiss was glad to hear.

What she wasn't glad to hear was the girl in black to mention their father's company's questionable moral decisions.

Flabbergasted, Weiss stormed off towards the main building as some servants came and got her luggage together. Red turned to talk to the girl in black, but she was already walking away. It was then that red stood alone in the courtyard, and fell flat on her back.

Seeing that last bit, Azure felt like he should patch things up, for Weiss' sake if no one else's.

Jumping out from his hiding place behind a tree, Azure called out to his not-too-distant sister, "Catch you later, Weiss!"

Moving up to the girl collapsed on her back, he held out a hand.

"Yo."

"Hey." Was her reply, accepting his helping hand. "What's your name?"

"Azure. Azure Schnee."

"Wha-you're related to-"

"Sorta. Adopted into the family. Sorry about Weiss, by the way. I know she can be a handful."

"Huh, you're telling me."

At that last remark, the two shared a laugh.

"Oh, sorry, introductions! Uh,I-uh...Ruby. R-Ruby Rose. A, uh, a pleasure."

Azure gave a warm smile. "The pleasure is all mine, miss Rose." He said as he gave a bow.

Ruby chuckled at her new friend. "You're definitely more sociable than your sister."

Azure smiled sheepishly. "Yeah...again, sorry about her. She means well, really, she's just…"

Ruby giggled again. "It's fine, really! It's not your fault she's so...you know."

"Heh, yeah, I guess, but still. That explosion's on her."

"Agreed."

The two then fell into an awkward silence, not sure what to talk about next.

"Uh, hi. I'm Jaune."

Azure glanced up to see a newcomer, a fellow blond with blue eyes, white skin, and a nervous stance. And a build that made him able to bear that armor he had, although his dress of a black hoodie and ripped jeans covered that up to the untrained eye. Azure always had a knack for picking up on covered up details.

"Azure."

"Ruby."

After a moment of silence, Ruby snickered. "Weren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"

* * *

A girl looked on quietly to the three teenagers in the courtyard. She just couldn't believe what she was seeing; the one boy, the first blond that helped that red girl up. He looked so...grown up. She hardly even recognized him when he hopped out, but she could never mistake that necklace.

Azure. He was here, at Beacon.

She wanted nothing more than to walk up and hold him. She wanted to throw herself at him and apologize and hold him some more and let all these feelings she had out for once…

But her body wouldn't move. She couldn't will herself to go over to him.

"Yo, Rach."

Rachel silently turned to her friend. He was seeing the same thing she was.

"Micah...Micah, he's-"

"I know, I saw him fall out of that Schnee transport. Funny, we actually just got orders concerning him."

* * *

Azure found himself walking silently behind his first acquaintances at Beacon, Ruby Rose and Jaune...what's his name. If the blond had given his surname before, Azure sure as hell hadn't been listening.

"All I'm saying is that motion sickness is a much more common problem than people let on!" Jaune argued.

"Sorry, Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind."

"Well, the name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue-"

"Ladies love it." Azure muttered, a little louder than he'd expected.

Ruby and Jaune glanced back at their quiet acquaintance, who wasn't expecting to impulsively finish Jaune's sentence. He just predicted it and, well, it kinda came out.

"How did you…"

"Uh. Lucky guess? Listen, the real question is, _do_ they love it?" Azure rebutted in an attempt to throw the attention off him.

"A-uh-yeah, they do-I mean, they will-at least I hope they will-my mom always said-ugh, nevermind…"

Azure and Ruby giggled at the strange behavior of their acquaintance.

"So, uh, I got this."

In an instant, Ruby pulled a giant scythe that looked like it doubled as a sniper rifle, if Azure could guess, out from it's place on her back. Azure and Jaune wondered how they hadn't noticed before.

"Woah, is that a scythe?!" Jaune exclaimed.

"It's also a fully-customizable, high-impact sniper rifle." Lucky guess number two for Azure.

"A what?"

Ruby cocked the gun for emphasis. "It's also a gun."

"Oh."

Ruby eyed the scabbard at Jaune's belt. "What about you?"

"Well, I got a sword! And, it comes with a shield-ah!" The scabbard of Jaune's sword transformed into a shield, and the sudden action caused Jaune to fumble with it.

Again, Ruby and Azure chuckled at his awkward clumsiness.

"Nice. So, what do they do?" Ruby asked innocently.

Jaune smiled sheepishly. "Well, the shield gets smaller! So, when I get tired of carrying it, I can just...put it away…" He explained as the shield reverted to scabbard form.

"But...doesn't it still weigh the same?"

"Yeah...it does…"

Ruby chuckled a bit. "Well, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons. I guess I did go a little overboard in designing it…"

"Wait, you _made_ that?" Azure and Jaune said in unison.

"Well, of course! All students at Signal forge their own weapons. Didn't you guys make yours?"

Jaune and Azure looked away shyly. Jaune was the first to speak up. "It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war."

"Sounds more like a family heirloom, to me." Ruby said. "Well, I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics."

"Yeah, the classics…" was Jaune's only response.

Almost as if she remembered something, Ruby quickly turned to Azure, wide-eyed. "So, what about you?"

Azure only smirked and pulled his sword out, doing some twirls with it before resting it on his shoulder. "This is Take-Mikazuchi. Nothing really special, I can channel my aura through it, my semblance works well with it, and, like Jaune's, is not a gun."

Ruby just stood and stared at the katana for a minute before saying, "Another classic. Cool."

'The hell? She disappointed or something? Come on, Take's cool as hell!'

"So, uh, guys...where are we going?"

All eyes turned to Ruby, who'd just posed an important question.

"Huh? I dunno, I was following you."

* * *

The walk to one of Beacon's many ballrooms proved to be just as boring for Azure as the previous walk had been; he walked silently behind Ruby and Jaune, the two having engaged in some other conversation that he had no contribution to. In few instances where he wasn't looking at his scroll, Azure picked up bits about a video game. _Blazblue_ , was it?

Their conversation, however, came to a close at the ballroom where the first-years had gathered.

"Oh! Hey, guys, gotta go! I'll see you after the ceremony!" was Ruby's farewell as she left to join another girl in the crowd.

"Ah-hey, wait! Ah, great. Where am I supposed to find another nice, quirky girl to talk to?"

Obviously distraught, Jaune walked away, leaving Azure alone. "Nice talking to you guys, too." was his silent farewell to his now absent acquaintances.

Deciding the privacy was good for the moment, Azure moved towards the back of the ballroom and set himself against the wall. Just as he was about to finally have some peace, an arm snaked it's way around his neck.

"Hey buddy! Missed ya back at the courtyard, Byakuya and I were getting' kinda lonely without ya!"

Damn, Kida found him _._

"Kida, off the kid. You just kinda invaded his privacy." was Byakuya's entrance, surprisingly more calm than his appearance an hour or so ago had been.

"Fine, fine...by the way, man, if I'm gonna make you the second-best lady killer in all of Beacon, I need a name! So, what is it?" Kida asked with his usual cockiness.

"Name's Azure, and I'm not gonna be a lady killer."

"Well, how am I gonna repay you for running into you?"

"Listen, it's cool, just, _please_ -"

"Oh, I'm not letting this slide, Azure, my friend! I gotta do something!"

"If you wanna do something, maybe you could scra-"

The sound of speakers turning on and feedback caught the room's attention. On the stage at the front stood a man with gray hair holding a cane, dressed sophisticated-like in green, accompanied by a blond woman with glasses, wearing a white blouse with a black skirt and a purple cape.

"I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you're finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."

The man's speech was breathing noticeable eagerness into the students gathered in the ballroom. Even Kida was glancing between Azure and Byakuya with a look of pride.

"But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy. In need of purpose, direction."

If not everyone was listening before, they sure as hell were now.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

With that, the man in green stepped away and the blond woman stepped up to the microphone.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

The ceremony at a close, many moody, disappointed students made their way out of the room. Azure, Kida and Byakuya kept their places at the back.

Kida was the first to speak, obviously irritated at the man's speech. "The hell's his problem? A-hole if I've ever seen one, amirite?"

"It just looks like everyone's missed the point. Ah well, suit themselves." Azure responded.

Kida looked a little offended that Azure didn't share his feelings.

"Whatever. What about you, Byakuya?"

...

But the tall, muscular teenager only looked ahead at the stage in contemplation.

…

"I don't care about knowledge, or any of that bull. I'm here to put my strength to good use, for once. That's all."

…

Azure smirked. So much for wasted energy.

* * *

Azure had moved to the restrooms to change into his sleeping attire, which consisted of a simple red tank top with black around the sleeves and bottom, and some black sweatpants with red lines going down the legs. After finishing, he glanced at his reflection in the mirror to see the large scar that sat across his torso, spanning from the bottom of his right side to his left shoulder.

He stood, and stared at it for a minute before sighing.

"Sure was a peaceful childhood, wasn't it?" Azure said to himself, remembering his father by blood, the man who'd given him that scar.

Stepping out of the restroom, he caught sight of the girl with the black bow he'd seen talking to Weiss and Ruby earlier that day.

He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but she looked familiar, somehow.

As she passed, Azure quickly caught up and fell into step beside her.

"So...what's up?"

No response.

"Uh...nice night?"

"Yeah, nice, like the silence was before you showed up."

Azure shrugged and looked away. "I just wanted to say sorry."

Now he had the girl's attention. "Sorry?"

"Yeah...about Weiss. She can be a handful, so I just wanted to apologize for her attitude-"

"No need. Goodbye."

The girl in black picked up her pace. Azure kept up.

"You...don't really talk much, do you?"

"Nope. Goodbye again."

Now she was walking a little too fast for Azure, and he lost her.

Well, to hell with her. He didn't wanna talk to her, anyways.

* * *

Azure found Weiss' mat and threw his down next to her.

"I was wondering where you'd run off to." was her only greeting.

Azure lied back on his sleeping mat. "Yeah, well I had some... _encounters_ , after your little episode in the courtyard. That explosion was totally your fault, by the way."

Weiss rebutted, "Was not! That imbecile should have known what she was dealing with!"

Azure frowned a little. He'd expected her enlightenment on the matter to be easy, but now she'd just described Ruby as an 'imbecile'. Azure had lived with Weiss long enough to learn her vocabulary, finding that words she used with him, such as 'idiot', were much more light hearted and were almost terms of endearment, in a way. More sophisticated insults, such as 'imbecile' or 'dunce' were indications that Weiss saw the people whom she directed the words at to be truly below her.

So, to hear her say that meant that she either had no idea what she'd done, or was far too convinced she was right.

Regardless, it was an argument that Azure just didn't have the energy to invest himself in at this time of night.

"Okay, okay, I'll leave it alone. Let's just get some sleep."

Hearing a ruckus, the siblings looked up to find Ruby and her blond friend, having a playful tussle in front of the girl in black.

Weiss scowled and shot up. "Not with their...their sheer... _gall!_ " With that, she was off and ready to tear them a new one.

Azure sighed and pulled out his scroll. There was at least _one_ thing he could do before sleeping…

* * *

A/N: Not porn. Definitely not porn. Azure and porn don't mix.

And hey, references! If you guys don't know anything about Blazblue, I highly suggest you check it out. Probably one of the best fighting games I've played, to date. Oh, and DRRR! fans might've picked up the cameo of everyone's favorite playboy, Masaomi Kida! I was actually debating using his actual name, but decided not to, for whatever reason. Don't expect him to be a big part of the story, I only threw him in there to make some interactions with Byakuya happen, and he'll probably pop in here or there as comic relief. Still though, cameos and references and such don't stop here! I'll gladly poke fun at stuff/throw fun interactions in at random spots for the helluvit, so there.

A Devil's Offspring: Thank you. I had to replace my keyboard. But seriously, I hear what you're saying. I got a little more descriptive in this chapter, partly due to your suggestion but also because I felt some more apt descriptions were in order. I ended up staying away from describing actual RWBY characters with the same detail I used for a couple of the other characters, my thinking being, you're reading a RWBY fanfic, you _know_ what they look like. And, the compliment about Azure is appreciated, I agree, a lot of OC fics I've read for RWBY have definitely sported some dark characters.

Anyways, quick disclaimer: I don't own Blazblue, the title belongs to Arc System Works and Aksys Games.

Next chapter, Emerald Forest and junk! Azure finds his friends and is all like "wat" and stuff like that and things are just action-y in general.

Follow/favorite/review!

Later~


	7. Can We Get The Hell Out Of This Forest?

_*Welcome! You have joined chat as Azure_Grimoire_

Azure_Grimoire: Hey! Anyone on this time of night?

The_Tragedy_of_L: Hey Azure! Long time no see!

Azure_Grimoire: Yeah, things have been pretty hectic as of late. Sorry I couldn't be online more often.

The_Tragedy_of_L: Hey, no worries, man! Stuff happens. If I may ask, what's been up lately?

 _*Kanra has joined chat_

The_Tragedy_of_L: Oh, hey Kanra!

Azure_Grimoire: Yeah, greetings.

Kanra: Oh, Azure! How nice of you to grace us with your presence!

Azure_Grimoire: Yeah, yeah. Anyways, to answer your question L, I just moved to Vale today.

Kanra: Oh?

The_Tragedy_of_L: Really? What for?

Azure_Grimoire: School.

The_Tragedy_of_L: Huh?

Azure_Grimoire: I just arrived at Beacon Academy today. First years have initiation tomorrow.

The_Tragedy_of_L: A hunter academy? The best one?! Congratulations Azure! That's so cool!

Kanra: Not to sound uncaring, but shouldn't you be asleep?

Azure_Grimoire: Ah, a little lack of sleep won't be too much trouble for me!

Kanra: I wouldn't be so sure! I've heard a lot about Beacon's initiation from alumni and dropouts alike!

The_Tragedy_of_L: Kanra, you hear a lot of things from a lot of people.

Kanra: And is that information ever incorrect?

The_Tragedy_of_L: Uh, well…

Azure_Grimoire: What's the word on this initiation then, Kanra? That is, if you really know.

Kanra: Well, supposedly they put you on little platforms and launch you into the Emerald Forest!

The_Tragedy_of_L: WHAT?!

Kanra: And it doesn't stop there! They have you fight your way through all the Grimm in that place to get to some temple, where there are relics or something you have to pick up.

Azure_Grimoire: What's the point of the relics?

Kanra: Not entirely sure...my guess is that it has something to do with the formation of teams?

Azure_Grimoire: Teams?

Kanra: Yeah, supposedly they put all the students into teams of four.

Azure_Grimoire: Huh. I guess that means they throw four random students together, or two pairs come together if they get the same relic?

Kanra: That's about as good a guess as any, assuming there's two of every relic.

The_Tragedy_of_L: Hey, Azure! Don't die, okay?!

Azure_Grimoire: I'll be fine, don't worry L! It'll all be cool!

Azure_ Grimoire: Say, you guys all live in Vale, right?

Kanra: Yep!

The_Tragedy_of_L: Yeah.

Azure_Grimoire: Sweet! We should meet up in real life, whenever I get a break from classes.

The_Tragedy_of_L: Yeah, that sounds awesome! How about it, Kanra?

Kanra: I wouldn't be so hasty! Vale's a scary place right now!

Kanra: I could tell you about all the urban legends, like the headless rider that drives through the city at midnight, or the guy with inhuman strength that goes around town with a debt collector!

Kanra: Or maybe you wanna hear about something all-the-rage in the news, like the devious criminal, Roman Torchwick, still out and causing trouble as we speak!

Kanra: The White Fang is also becoming more active in Vale! Law enforcement's got their panties way up in a bunch about it!

Azure_Grimoire: On second thought, I think I'll just take your advice and get some shut-eye.

The_Tragedy_of_L: Yeah, I got work tomorrow. Don't want my scum-sucking superior giving me more hell than he usually does.

Kanra: Come on, guys! Let me play show and tell for a while!

The_Tragedy_of_L: Nah, don't really feel like it. Goodnight, guys!

 _*The_Tragedy_of_L has left chat_

Kanra: No fun!

Azure_Grimoire: I have to agree with him, though. Night, Kanra.

Kanra: Booooring.

 _*Kanra has left chat_

* * *

'Hurry up hurry up hurry the hell up! Dammit legs, move faster!'

Azure hadn't even been up for fifteen minutes before hearing about a girl who was conducting a purge on the pancakes in the mess hall. In record time, he managed to perform all the necessary personal hygiene procedures and throw all his clothes on before making a beeline to breakfast.

The pancakes specifically didn't bother him, he just hoped that with how late he'd woken up, he'd have any food at _all_.

As he threw open the doors to the mess hall in a sweat, Azure noticed a small line as the last of the students were receiving their breakfast. Seeing that these students were still getting actual food, he exhaled in relief and fell in line, not paying any mind to the now infamous pancake-purging girl a table over from the line.

What he did notice was falling into line with a familiar face.

"Oh, hey Ruby." Azure greeted his, erm, friend from behind. Hearing her name, the red girl spun around and smiled at him.

"Morning, Azure! Sleep well?" she responded.

Azure glanced to the side. "Eh, sorta. I kinda got on my scroll to talk to some online friends before bed. I guess I was up later than I thought."

Ruby nodded understandingly. "Same. I could hardly sleep after my _second_ -no, _third_ -episode with Weiss."

"Third?"

"Yeah! She walked up to me and my sister at the ceremony and started yelling again and I really just wanted her to stop so I tried to patch things up but she shot me down and then in the ballroom when everyone was sleeping-"

A blond girl in front of Ruby turned around and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Rubes, chill. Don't bombard the guy." After calming the rambling girl down, the blond looked up (or down, seeing as she was a bit taller.) at Azure.

"Sorry about my sister, she can get carried away sometimes." she said.

Azure smiled politely at his fellow blond. "No worries, I'm not a noob when it comes to sisters. Try growing up with _two_."

"Two? Wow, I can barely keep up with Ruby sometimes."

"You don't wanna know how fast I had to catch up."

The two shared a laugh at that before the blond girl spoke again. "Yang."

"Azure. Nice to meet you."

After receiving his food, Azure sat with Ruby and Yang and stuck up some simple banter with them. Breakfast was light for him, only taking a pancake, a muffin and some juice. If what Kanra told him was true, he didn't want to lose a hearty meal to the skies.

After breakfast, he headed with Ruby and Yang towards the locker rooms, where they would pick up their weapons and other supplies that they'd placed in their designated lockers, along with some of their other belongings.

Once arriving, Azure bid farewell to the sisters and went to find his locker. He caught glimpse of a couple familiar faces along the way; Jaune struggling to find his locker, Weiss chatting with whom Azure recognized as Pyrrha Nikos- _the_ Pyrrha Nikos-as well as pancake girl and her much more mellow companion.

Coming to his locker, Azure typed in the code he set the night before and retrieved only one thing, Take-Mikazuchi. As he picked it up to place the sling around him, he felt noticeably more at ease with it in his hands and on his body. He'd always assumed that feeling had something to do with Agony, the bastard with the shit-eating grin that also resided in his body.

He just wasn't sure what Take did or why just having it on him seemed to lift a weight off his shoulders. Hell, he knew that lumping Agony in with it was a stretch all on it's own.

Shrugging the thought off, Azure closed his locker and started off to the cliffs at the entrance of the Emerald Forest, where an intercom had instructed the first-years to go. On his way, he accidentally bumped into a student wearing a full suit of silver armor.

"Oh, sorry." He said at the collision.

The other student didn't take it so well. "Watch where you're going, punk!"

Azure glanced back over his shoulder and snickered. He figured that wasn't the last time he'd have an encounter like that with that guy.

Azure one, random nimrod student zero.

* * *

Green trees. Blue sky. Some clouds.

From where Azure stood, atop the cliff on a gray panel in line with the other first-year students, everything was immaculately dull.

At the moment, he stood with Byakuya on his left, whom hadn't so much as spoken a word since he'd placed himself there, only responding to Azure's attempt at conversation with grunts and hums.

This guy was no fun.

Then, to his right was no one. The panel sat empty, as if waiting for someone to arrive.

As if to humorlessly cater to his thoughts, a boy about Azure's height with a mop of magenta hair and piercing, onyx eyes took his place on the empty panel.

At first, Azure payed no mind to his fellow initiate.

But, something shot through Azure's mind, causing him to turn back to the boy at his right.

Azure ignored the headmaster's instruction; Kanra's information wasn't false, and he caught the other bits about teams and partners without paying much attention. First person he made eye contact with, partners for the next four years, relics, yadda yadda yadda.

For what felt like hours, Azure was analyzing the magenta-haired teen next to him, trying to figure out what it was that made this boy so familiar to him.

He didn't even notice the other initiates being launched from their platforms.

All of a sudden, something clicked. Azure couldn't believe it.

"Ma...Micah-"

And with that, Azure was flying through the sky, unable to ask his question.

The first of many. Azure's mind was reeling with questions now, and how could anyone blame him? His beloved friend, his _brother_ , whom he thought was dead for nine years was just next to him a moment ago.

What did that mean?

Was he the only other one alive? Was Rachel okay? What about Ken and his little squad?

Remembering that he was currently soaring through the open sky, Azure pushed all these questions to the back of his mind as he devised a landing strategy. Not seeing any other options, Azure fell back on his best bet:

Aiming for the ground directly below him.

Azure drew Take-Mikazuchi, aimed it towards the sky and started channeling his aura into the blade. In less than a second, an adequate amount was stored and he released it in a burst of black flames. Now plummeting towards the ground in a direct fall, Azure aimed the blade at the ground and channeled more aura to create another burst to break his fall.

Once he came level to the treetops, Azure leaped downwards from branch to branch before setting his feet on the ground.

Looking around, he saw that he'd set himself in the middle of a den of wolves. Well, Beowolves, that is. Five of them.

Feeling ready to blow off some steam, Azure assumed a combat stance, keeping his form wide and his sword poised to strike.

The first Beowolf that jumped to attack met a quick end at the blade of Azure's sword, slicing it cleanly in half in a seemingly time-shattering motion. The next two that rushed to strike met similar fates, as Azure beheaded one and dodged the other in a roll, bisecting it as he landed to the side.

Two left, and Azure was confident he wouldn't need to draw on his flames for these ones, either.

The remaining Beowolves separated and went to opposite sides, trying to get Azure to lower his guard, no doubt. Azure was able to grab the one to his left by the neck and use it to club the other one. Snapping the neck of the former, Azure made a quick jump to the other, disoriented Grimm and delivered a fatal strike through the top of it's head.

Feeling pretty good, but still a little miffed that the fight was no big deal, Azure stood up and dusted himself off, flicking the grimm blood off his sword in a single motion. Before he had any time to rest, he heard a rustling in some nearby bushes.

Falling back into his combat stance, Azure turned to the direction the rustling was coming from and found himself face-to-face with a fellow initiate, holding a black and a white dagger in each hand, ready to strike.

…

There was something familiar about this one, too…

…

Orange hair, blue eyes…

…

 _Fox ears_.

…

"Rachel?"

"Azure?"

* * *

Micah's feet set softly on the ground with a sigh as he ceased his flight. As far as landing strategies go, having a wind semblance sure came in handy for him.

Upon landing, Micah readied his weapon, taking his LMG that had been hanging from his chest and changing it to it's zweihander form. His attire as of late was chosen because of his need to be combat-ready at most times, now sporting a white jacket with forest green highlights, black pants and black boots.

While on any other day he would be mentally praising himself for his stylish entrance, Micah only had one thing on his mind.

'He recognized me! Alright, so he knows I'm here, but he probably doesn't know about Rachel being here. With any luck, he's out there looking for me right now. Okay, okay, no big deal, just gotta find him...'

A slight noise behind him was all he needed to spin around, hoping to see his long-lost friend and mission.

"Azure, you-"

Instead, he found a very tall and muscular initiate with spiky hair looking back at him.

For a moment, they just stared. The tall one in apprehensive confusion, Micah in utter disappointment.

"Uh...sup, Wallflower. Name's Byakuya. I, uh, guess we're partners now, so don't be a bitch and we'll be cool. Let's get over to that temple and get the relic, or whatever."

As Byakuya walked calmly past a frozen Micah, the latter only dropped to his knees in shame.

"Rachel...don't screw this up."

* * *

"Listen I'm happy to see you, and I really want to know what happened, but, I move to save catching up for _after_ this debacle." Azure suggested.

Rachel smiled in response. "Agreed, not like we won't have any time to talk later."

"True. We're partners, after all."

"Yup! Lets get to that temple, then!"

"Let's!"

And with that, the new partners were off to their objective. To Rachel's surprise, Azure was much easier to work with now. He barely even seemed like the Azure she knew when they were kids, the only thing proving that to her being the air about him. The entire time she knew Azure, he always had a kind of air to him; cold and antisocial outside, but deep down, loving and compassionate, always ready to give a hand to whoever needs it.

That same air was still around him now, but with the 'cold and antisocial' replaced with a 'calm and silent' vibe, something Rachel could get accustomed to.

Something she would _have_ to get accustomed to. They were partners now, and something about that made Rachel even more happy than just knowing he was alive.

This was the best mission _ever_!

As the two waded through the brush and branches, Azure couldn't help but notice how grown-up his childhood friend now looked.

Sneaking a peek when she wasn't paying attention, Azure noticed her outfit wasn't too different from when they were children. She wore a blue-and white dress (combat skirt, Azure mused.) about the same length that Weiss' was, and it had two sheaths held in the back by a belt, where her daggers now sat. Her outfit was finished off by a pair of blue boots that came to her thigh with some black stockings peeking out of the top by a little. Height wise, while they had been around the same height as kids, Rachel now sat a few heads shorter than him, probably around Ruby's height but maybe a little taller.

When she finally did notice him looking, he quickly shot his gaze forward in a flush.

Finally reaching a break in the trees,, Azure and Rachel came out into a clearing with a structure at the center, Azure assuming it to be their objective. Squinting, Azure could make out two figures from atop the slope across from them, one yellow and another black.

As they made their way towards the temple, the figures became clearer.

"Hey, Azure! Glad to see you're doing okay." Yang greeted.

"Yeah, you too, Yang. And hello, uh, girl." Azure responded while giving a hesitant greeting to the girl in black, whom had so politely ignored him the night before. Not expecting her to respond, Azure beckoned Rachel with a hand and the two moved towards the center of the temple.

"My name's Blake."

…

Hearing that, Azure and Rachel stopped dead in their tracks.

"...Blake. Your name's Blake." Azure managed to get out, not turning to face her.

"...yes."

"...okay."

Azure continued his walk to the crumbling temple, slightly unnerved by the familiar name.

* * *

"So...you work out a lot?"

Byakuya turned to give a deadpan look at his partner, whom he was learning very quickly was just as much of an idiot as Kida. Hell, for all he knew, the guy was going to start boisterously announcing to the forest about how he was going to have mother nature _falling_ into his arms at any moment.

Needless to say, Byakuya wasn't thrilled about his matchup.

"...hey man, I'm just asking. N-no need to hold that...b-boulder like you're gonna crush me...cool?" Micah managed to squeak out.

Byakuya snapped out of his mindless drone and noticed the boulder of considerable size he had been holding overhead. Now regaining his cool, he set it down gently where it rested just a moment ago.

His behavior warranted explanation. "Sorry, I have a kind of mindless temper. It kicks in whenever something pisses me off, and stupid questions piss me off _real_ bad. Got it?" Byakuya informed his partner.

Micah only shrugged, seemingly accepting Byakuya's explanation.

It was then that a shrill scream pierced the air.

Micah glanced upwards. "Huh, some chick's having a hard time, from the sound of it."

Byakuya grunted in response. It wasn't long before the ground beneath them began to shake, and a hulking, black figure emerged from the woods in front of them.

"...was it something I said?"

"For your sake, Wallflower, you'd better hope it wasn't."

* * *

Rachel gazed mindlessly at the sky. "Azure...people are flying."

Azure averted his attention from trying to choose a relic to give Rachel an incredulous stare. "The hell? Are you losing it already?"

"No! Some girl came falling from the sky and another person slammed into her and they went into a tree!" Rachel defended as a blush built up in her cheeks.

Azure only deadpanned in silence before turning back to the relics. They were chess pieces, of all things. Azure wanted to analyze all the remaining pieces, taking into account their roles on the board and their meanings…

Truthfully, he didn't just pick up a random one because he didn't want to be the metaphorical laughing stock of anyone who was smart enough to think about it like he was.

Pick the pawn? _Hell no_.

His concentration on the task at hand wasn't broken for a second, not even by an abnormally large Ursa barreling through the trees and halting in the center of the clearing, with Byakuya stepping out in the wake of broken trees.

"Yo, you guys over there. Just stand back and leave this to me."

Micah popped out hesitantly from behind Byakuya's massive figure. "Yeah cool take him on you can do it!" he said quickly before rushing over to the temple to peruse relics alongside Azure.

"Hey, so, uh, long time no see?"

"Uh, yeah...hey, Rachel and I agreed to save catching up for afterwards. Cool?"

"Yeah man, cool. Decide on a relic?"

"Having trouble…"

Pancake girl riding in on an Ursa did nothing to break Azure and Mica's concentration.

"What's the trouble? Just pick a piece."

"Easy for you to say, _you_ pick a piece."

"Fine, but you have to pick the same one."

"Fine, grab one."

"I'll let you decide."

"Dammit, Micah!"

Pyrrha Nikos leading a giant Deathstalker into the clearing was also unnoticed by the two bickering friends.

"Why not the king?"

"No way, I'm not _that_ egotistic."

"What's so egotistic about grabbing the king?"

"I don't know, Micah, what's so-"

The one thing that could possibly break the two out of such an argument was Weiss' shrieks as she plummeted towards the ground from a Nevermore.

"Black rook!" Azure blurted out before jumping on a pillar and kicking himself off to retrieve his Schnee sister.

It was about halfway through his ascent that Azure realized that, without a boost, he wouldn't be able to catch Weiss before she hit the ground. Luckily for him, a proper boost presented itself in a moment's notice.

While he felt bad about taking it, Azure knew it needed to be done.

Using Jaune's face as a stepping stone, Azure lept up and caught his sister bridal style.

"You okay?" he asked calmly.

"Y-yeah." was Weiss' nervous response as she tried to fight the heat in her face.

As to ruin the moment as soon as they hit ground, Azure's brief chivalry was thrown out the window as he nonchalantly dropped Weiss on the ground. "Great, glad you're not hurt." was all he said before walking away as if nothing really important happened.

"Azure Schnee, the second this initiation is through, your head will be on a platter!" Everyone at the temple shrunk at Weiss' rage.

Everyone, aside from Azure, who was already over it and shifted his focus elsewhere.

Heading back towards the group, Azure noticed the new faces that had shown up, such as pancake girl and friend, Ruby, Jaune holding his face, and Pyrrha Nikos, standing alongside those whom he'd interacted with beforehand. He questioned why he hadn't noticed them showing up, but wrote it off when he remembered how invested he was in choosing the right relic.

"Great, the gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang said with mock enthusiasm.

Before Azure had a chance to respond, Ruby burst from her place in a flurry of rose petals towards the Deathstalker. "Ruby, wait!" Azure ordered before getting plowed in the side by Byakuya.

Recovering from the blow, Azure flipped on his hand to see the intimidating form of an Ursa; one larger than any he'd seen before, even an Ursa Major.

Cursing his misfortune, Azure got ready to deal with this hindrance in as little time as possible.

As the Ursa came in for a swing, Azure decided not to dodge; instead, as the Grimm's left claw closed in, he shielded that side of his body in his flames. The Ursa stumbled back and roared in pain at contact with Azure's flame shield, as the barrier incinerated it's left paw.

Azure glanced back at Byakuya, who gaped at the sight.

Smirking, Azure turned front to face his opponent, who was slowly recovering from the pain of losing part of its limb. Deciding enough was enough, he drew his sword and made a dash towards the still half-disoriented Ursa. Channeling his flames into Take-Mikazuchi's blade, Azure enveloped the sword in flames that coated the blade exactly. Azure sliced as he passed the Ursa, the flames no longer present in that moment and exposing the bare silver of his sword.

Azure twirled the katana around and sheathed it on his back. As the last length of silver clicked into the scabbard, the flames that had previously sat on the blade of the sword released in a violent blaze on the Ursa's body.

" _Solstice Form: Eternal Summer._ "

His battle finished, Azure glanced over at the Deathstalker to see that Weiss had intervened before Ruby could be hurt.

Good, she's not being totally heartless. Just difficult.

Azure only barely noticed Byakuya, Micah and Rachel walking towards him.

"So, did you name that move yourself?" Byakuya questioned.

Azure scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, I know it's not the coolest name...my combat instructor is kinda nuts, so he gave a lot of my techniques names and drilled it into my head that I should say their names whenever I use them. No point, really, but years of training has pretty much made it a habit."

Rachel rebounded, "But I thought it was really cool! You should always say the names of your attacks, it makes you kinda like a hero in a comic book or something!"

"Yeah, exactly, it's stupid."

"No, it's not! Keep doing it, please?"

"I'm gonna put all my effort into not-ugh, you know what, forget it."

Years of living with Weiss Schnee had formed Azure into an expert on choosing his battles.

* * *

The plan was set in stone: everyone had their relics, and the exit was in sight. Deciding they didn't need to waste their time fighting the two large Grimm, the twelve initiates made a beeline towards the goal.

What they weren't expecting was a third, large, oh-so-scary Grimm to invite itself to the party.

Dodging in the nick of time, Azure, Rachel, Micah and Byakuya recovered from their dodge and found themselves separated from the others, and face-to-face with a Grimm none of them had ever seen before.

Before them was a Beowolf, the four assumed, although it was much larger than they knew one could be. Instead of just spikes on the arms and a spine on the back, full plates of bone had developed, the piercing red eyes burned with a much more murderous glow than any average Beowolf; any average Grimm, at that.

As the Grimm growled at the initiates, the four drew their weapons and took their fighting positions.

Rachel drew the daggers she had before, now putting the two together to make a staff of some sort. Azure noticed the midsection of the two daggers forming into a revolving dust chamber, and some glyphs not unlike Weiss' forming around the staff.

So, Rachel was a dust mage. She always _had_ been kinda brainy.

Azure was more dumbfounded by Micah's sword/machine gun hybrid that he so casually lifted from his side and readied. The hell, had he turned into as much a brute as Byakuya?

His question was answered as Byakuya flicked his right arm, and a gauntlet of steel and spikes with what appeared to be a shotgun barrel at the top unfolded to fit his arm, with a row of shells around his upper arm and knuckles plated with extra-sharp looking spikes.

Well, he did say something about strength at the ceremony. So, Micah may have a bit of brute in him, but this muscle guy's a _goddamned tank_.

Snapping back to the conflict at hand, Azure dodged a left swing from the abominable Beowolf and proceeded to take up the side. Micah read his friend's movements, and did the same on the right side, ducking under another swing.

As the Beowolf was about to take one of them, Byakuya managed to catch its attention with a blow to the snout, and Rachel kept it with a barrage of ice spikes.

Taking the opportunity presented, Azure delivered a quick slice to the left side of the Grimm and left a decent sized gash, Micah doing the same on his end. Despite the frontal assault that Byakuya and Rachel were giving, the Beowolf quickly retaliated from its side wounds and swatted both of the teenagers at it's sides away, as well as ramming the unsuspecting teens at the front.

Recovering from their sudden blows, the four initiates glanced up to see that their attacks weren't for nothing; the abominable Grimm was staggering and acting sluggish.

This provided ample fuel for Azure's quick thinking. Analyzing the area around them, he noticed a cliff to their left that would provide him with the perfect finisher for this fight.

"Guys, we need to get this thing over that cliffside!" Azure directed.

While they all gave him questionable glances, the three decided that their best bet was to follow Azure's lead.

Spreading out for another plan of attack, the initiates managed to avoid another swipe of the Beowolf's claws. Noticing the Grimm favoring it's right side, Azure saw an opportunity present itself.

"Byakuya, Rachel, try and get it off it's feet! The left side's weaker than the right!"

Seeing what their fellow initiate meant, Rachel initiated a gravitational push on the Grimm's left side while Byakuya sealed the deal, delivering a monstrous punch to the gut and sending it flying towards the cliff.

However, Azure could see that it wasn't going to make it all the way.

"Micah, try and keep it going!" Azure shouted to his friend.

As he watched the Grimm fall towards the ground just a few feet away from the cliff, Micah devised the perfect way to keep it off it's feet.

Delivering a flurry of wind underneath the Beowolf's landing zone, he glanced at Byakuya, giving a silent order to his partner to give it the extra push it needed. Byakuya responded, and sprinted into a punch that sent the Grimm hovering above the chasm that the cliff led to.

The end in sight, Azure readied his final blow.

Coursing more aura into Take-Mikazuchi's blade than ever before, Azure's sword was soon enveloped in black flames that made it grow by twice it's original size.

Azure made a fateful leap towards the airborne Beowolf, with Micah ready to pull him back with his wind.

…

Azure raised his gargantuan flame sword.

…

He brought it down in one fell swoop, releasing the flames as they enveloped the abominable Grimm. As Micah pulled him back in, he unintentionally fueled the black flames that now covered the chasm like a blanket.

…

The four silently agreed nothing would survive that.

Rachel ran up to Azure all giddy. "Wow, was that one of your special attacks? Like in the movies where the hero always-"

"No, Rachel, it's not. That was actually the first time I'd ever used that."

Byakuya grunted. Micah finally asked, "So, got a name for it?"

Azure gave him a deadpan stare, before silently mulling it over in his head…

Before he came to a conclusion.

"Kubikiribocho: Executioner's Blade."

'Damn, some of the old dude's crazy is rubbing off on me.'

* * *

The four made their way back to the rest of their group and arrived just in time to watch Ruby run the Nevermore up a cliff wall, and finally behead it at the peak.

As Ruby emerged from the top of the cliff, rose petals danced in the wind while all the initiates stood in awe of the feat they all had witnessed.

Finally, Byakuya was the first to speak.

"Yeah, cool, can we just get the hell out of this damn emerald deathtrap?"

* * *

A/N: I hope my action wasn't too boring, seeing as this was the first time I'd written action scenes before. Also, you have full permission to diss the names I gave Azure's attacks, I don't think they're too bad but I know I'm painting a target on my back with those.

You honestly have no idea how long I've had the scene with Azure and Micah choosing relics playing in my head. While the original scene was different, with me kicking around the idea of a RWBYverse team of characters from different anime, it still kept the essence of the original.

Oh, and you guys probably noticed my lame attempts at skipping canon dialogue. You've probably watched the show if you're reading this, and besides, the story is less about the canon characters and more about this other team I'm building.

So, yeah, canon stuff happens, don't expect me to type it word for word every scene I throw in. That'd just be a hassle.

On another note, what do you guys think of the other OC's weapons? I kinda had it in mind that Rachel was gonna be a dust mage, feeling originally that she would be a physical fighter but then realized that Byakuya does that. Oops. Micah's just kinda came to me at one point when I knew I wanted him to have a big sword, and Byakuya's came about from an influence. Another buff dude with abnormal strength and a cool arm.

Props if you recognize the names from the chat, any of them. Extra props if you can guess Azure's team name before the next chapter.

And that's all I got! Cast goes to school next chapter.

As always, follow/favorite/review! (Please review.)

Later~!


	8. No 1 Student, Azure Schnee?

The events closely following the initiation were heated, to say the least. For a slim moment, Azure was sure his sister had been possessed by a demonic Grimm not of this plane of existence, as she was quite adamant about her earlier promise.

"Azure~, you remember what I said about your head on a platter, right? Back in the forest?"

"Oh, hell."

After a long and strenuous chase up the stairs at the cliffside, Azure finally managed to lose his enraged Schnee sister when the last initiates were picked up in Bullheads to be transported back to Beacon, jumping in the final open seat of one before takeoff. The ride back to Beacon was time spent uneasy as Azure talked with Jaune and Pyrrha, the teammates he'd unexpectedly jumped in with.

When the bullhead set down at Beacon, Azure made a point to move as quickly as possible, purposely getting lost in crowds and taking the shortest route he could find to the auditorium, where supposedly teams were being formed.

Finally reaching his destination, Azure took a seat towards the back and away from any entrances, silently prayed that Weiss would be rational by the time they found each other. Or rather, when she found him.

"Whoa dude, you look like you're gonna pass out."

Azure looked up from his silent prayers for safety to a familiar face.

"Oh, Kida," he greeted. "How'd your initiation go?"

The unnatural blond shrugged and took a seat next to Azure. "It was okay, I was able to make it through the forest, get a partner, grab a relic and skedaddled before things got heated. I saw you guys take on those huge Grimm, and damn, that was some show. Glad I split when I did."

Azure gave a blank look at his classmate. "Yeah, you don't look like you'd last in a fight." he said lightheartedly.

Despite the emotionless expression, Kida picked up on his playfulness and responded with mock hurt. "Oh, that pains me, Azure! I know Byakuya has no faith in the infallible Kida Ishimura, but I thought _you_ , at least, believed in me just a little!"

The two chuckled at the nature of their exchange. "You know, you remind me a lot of one of my friends, when we were both kids." Azure said.

Kida took his usual, prideful tone. "Well, I doubt that your childhood friend is as suave, witty, and drop-dead gorgeous as I!"

"Eh, I'd say you're actually a few steps below him now."

"What do you mean?!"

Before their banter could continue, Azure and Kida glanced over to see that some familiar faces were coming to join them.

"Yo, Micah! Rachel!" Azure greeted. The two gave nods in greeting.

"What'd I tell you, Byakuya, not even a forest of Grimm could kill Kida-"

Before the five could strike up any more conversation, the headmaster took his place on stage and began the final ceremony, beginning to draw the curtains on initiation day. As the ceremony went on, Azure's theory was proven correct; the two sets of partners that got the same relic were put together into a four-man cell.

Well, he couldn't complain about the hand he'd been given, assuming Micah picked up the black rook like he had…

Wait, did he _seriously_ settle for the rook without even _thinking about it?_

Oh well, no use fretting now. Azure turned his attention back to the ceremony.

"Cardin Winchester. Russel Thrush. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forth, you will work together as Team CRDL (Cardinal), led by Cardin Winchester."

'Huh, that armored dimwit from the locker rooms is a team leader? Well, at least I know who I'll be clashing with now.' Azure mused as he remembered his earlier encounter with Cardin.

"Jaune Arc. Nora Valkyrie. Pyrrha Nikos. Lie Ren. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forth, you will work together as Team JNPR (Juniper), led by Jaune Arc."

Azure and the others, aside from Kida, became skeptical at this announcement. Jaune Arc, team leader? He didn't do anything overly impressive in the forest…

"That wimp's actually a quick thinker. He pretty much called the shots in that fight with the Deathstalker!" Kida explained. The four accepted this explanation, as they hadn't actually seen the Deathstalker's demise.

The newly formed Team JNPR left the stage. "Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Blake Belladonna. Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forth, you will work together as Team RWBY (Ruby), led by Ruby Rose."

This was a team that Azure accepted. He'd heard from Jaune and Pyrrha on the ride back that the four girls had defeated the Nevermore by executing a plan that Ruby had quickly formulated from their surroundings. Although he knew Weiss would no doubt be upset, and that would make things difficult, seeing as Weiss and Ruby were both teammates _and_ partners.

He brushed the thoughts off for the time being, as he and a choice few of his classmates were called to the stage.

The four students walked to the stage, falling in line in the order their names were called.

"Azure Schnee. Micah Brezhnev. Byakuya Iki. Rachel Brezhnev. The four of you retrieved the black rook pieces. From this day forth, you will work together as Team AMBR (Amber), led by Azure Schnee."

...

As the audience applauded, Azure only stood in shock at the headmaster's words.

...

He was the team leader?

"I...wha-"

Micah threw an arm around the neck of the stunned blond. "Duh, I mean, you called some pretty crazy shots with that Beowolf. If we owe that win to anyone, we owe it to you, Azure."

Azure glanced at the other two in line. Byakuya gave a short hum of approval, and Rachel beamed at him from the opposite end.

These were his teammates, and he was their leader.

With his confidence boosted, Azure put on a grin and faced the headmaster, giving him a respectful nod.

Now, he was ready for anything.

* * *

Azure questioned if he was really ready for... _this_.

Now stepping into AMBR's new dorm room, the four stopped in skepticism of whether or not this room could even fit all of them.

At the back wall under the window, the four beds had been pushed together to make one huge four-person bed, the only thing revealing that it wasn't just one big bed being the four frames. The beds were seemingly the only things that had been bothered to be placed neatly, as the desks, chairs and such all looked to be thrown in without much regard to space.

"Do...they actually give a damn about making the rooms look, I dunno, neat?" Byakuya questioned.

"Someone was working fast." Micah responded.

"Well, no use complaining about it. Our room, so let's clean it up." Azure suggested.

"Let's get to it, then." Rachel said with a sigh.

About an hour of renovations later, and something was still amiss with the room.

"Oh!" Azure shouted in a moment of realization. "It's because there are four beds, but the room is barely big enough to hold three people."

"Are you freakin' kidding me? Didn't they plan crap like this out?" Byakuya said, getting quite upset that such an asinine issue was so glaring.

"If I heard right, I think one of the professors was saying that the number of first-year students is higher than they accommodated for." Rachel explained.

"Ugh, what the hell? So they gave us a spare room?"

"Sure looks that way."

The entire time this conversation happened, Micah stayed silent. Only now did he make a sound, giving a sort of 'aha'.

"Bunk beds?" he questioned the team.

The other three stared at their magenta-haired teammate for a few moments.

"Fine." Byakuya, 1

"That's a great idea, Micah!" Rachel, 2

"Well, I guess we have to make room somehow. Not much choice." Azure, 3.

"Alright, let's get to work!" And by unanimous decision, AMBR's dorm got bunk beds.

Or, because of the lack of supplies, they did their best to make them. Using only various supplies that the four had packed, they managed to stack the beds on top of one another, the right one standing on some books that Rachel and Micah brought and the left held in place by some metal bars, possibly extra barrels for Byakuya's gauntlet.

"So, is that one on the bars...safe?" Azure asked.

"What, you think they're gonna break or something?" Byakuya questioned.

"No, it just looks like the slightest shift in motion could cause the bars to tilt, and that would bring the bed down…"

"So? You got fire, weld them."

"You can't weld metal to wood, dumbass!"

"You got any better ideas?!"

"Calm down, both of you! You don't wanna wake up the others!" Rachel pleaded.

After a moment of silence, Azure calmly came to a realization and pulled out Take-Mikazuchi, beginning to cut neat holes around the bars on the bottom frame.

"I'll just cut some holes in the frame, so the bars can fit in there and they won't give out when I move."

"And just when the hell did I say you could take that bunk?" Byakuya challenged unexpectedly.

Azure turned back to his teammate and gave a deadpan look. "Did you think I'd let you sleep on the bunk _above_ me, ya big lug?"

While Azure went back to his work, Byakuya gave a look of mortification and turned to his other teammates for explanation.

"Well, you're the biggest one here...and the bunk on the top would pose a bigger risk if it collapsed, I think…" Micah theorized.

"Plus, if you're so tall, climbing into the top would be difficult." Rachel added.

Byakuya admitted his silent defeat before an argument could even begin. "Fine, I'll take the bottom bunk."

"Great!" Azure declared, having finished cutting the holes and now turning back to his teammates. "And, now that we're sorta unpacked and the room's clean, how about cleaning up and heading to bed?"

The team let out an audible sigh of agreement.

"Cool. So, Byakuya, I got some catching up to do with Rachel and Micah, so you wouldn't mind going first, would you?"

Before Byakuya had a chance to protest, he was thrown into the dorm's bathroom with only his towel and some spare clothes.

Now in a moment of privacy, Azure turned to his long lost friends, who were sitting on the bottom bunk of the right bed.

"Start from the top. What happened?"

Micah and Rachel exchanged a glance before turning back to Azure.

Micah began. "The collapse? Well, long story short, we took a page from your book and jumped the window."

"From the third floor?"

"It wasn't from the front. One of the buildings next to that one had a service staircase, so I made the first jump to break the window and helped the others across."

"Huh...so you didn't see-"

Micah then stood up and came very close to Azure's face.

"We saw, Azure. The flames. The same ones _you_ were using today."

What followed was a pregnant silence between the two friends. Although, friends was a debatable term, with how heated Micah stared at the blond.

' _He knows~! What will you do now?_ '

Azure took a moment to regain himself and responded. "Look, Micah-"

"I know about you, Azure. We do, both Rachel and I. Now, if it were up to me, I would take you somewhere to be either incarcerated or... _disposed of_ altogether. But, the two of us are on orders to observe only, and judge whether or not you're a real threat. Count yourself lucky, for now."

So many questions were whirling around in Azure's head at the moment. Orders? Judge whether or not he's a threat?

Disposed of?

The last thought sent Azure's anger to the forefront. "Listen, moron. I don't know what the hell you're going on about, what with all this talk of 'orders' or 'judgement', but from what I can tell, you don't have the slightest clue about me. Not like I'd expect anything less from someone I haven't seen in nine years."

"Is that so?" Micah questioned. "You say I don't understand you, but let me explain some things. The ferocity of your flames when you used them in the Emerald Forest proves that you have exceptional control over them, something that normal humans, not even faunus, are supposed to be able to do."

"That's-"

"And then there's your eyes. Why is one a different color? Is that the mark of your possession? How do I not know you're the King of Agony using Azure Schnee's body, hm?"

That last accusation earned Micah a fist to the face. The magenta-haired teen stumbled back into the window and met the gaze of the heated blond.

"Micah...you goddamn idiot! You really think that I'm a monster because I can use some shitty flames?!" Azure shouted.

Micah returned full-force. "What other way to prove you're a monster than the fact you have something anyone else would pay for _in blood_ if they used, and you pass it off as your own semblance-as your own _aura_?!"

"Maybe it's because I'm the only one who _can_ control it!"

" _Humans_ can't control Grimm powers!"

"Well I can, dammit!"

Another silence, where only Azure and Micah stared at one another venomously. All the while, Rachel sat shrunken on the bottom bunk of the right bed, slightly upset that her friends were fighting like this.

Eventually, Azure spoke, calmer than before. "Remember the day we first met?"

At first there was no response, but after a moment, Micah finally did. "Yeah. You were the grumpiest looking kid I'd ever seen, you know that?"

"Hah, I believe it. I got into a fight not even a couple hours after I met you all. Jonah said something about my mom and it pissed me off, so I took him down."

"Yeah. At least he shut up after that."

"Yeah. After the director lectured me about fighting and everything…"

"I walked over to you, sitting on the ground, trying not to cry…"

…

"You held out your hand, almost expectantly."

…

"You didn't take it at first, going on like 'why are you helping me' and stuff like that."

…

"You remember what you told me, Micah?"

…

"I said, 'because we're brothers now.'"

All throughout the reminiscent exchange, the two never broke their gaze, despite the softening of both of their expressions.

"So, even if you remember that so well, you still think I'm a monster?"

Micah's gaze hardened. "I'm not taking any chances, Azure. I hope you're telling the truth, believe me, I _hope_ you're not the Grimm inside you. But, in the moment of truth, I won't hesitate to end you."

As if on cue, Byakuya exited the bathroom in his sleepwear, a plain white t-shirt and some black athletic shorts. "Quit fighting, assholes. Next."

* * *

"Hunters! Huntresse-"

The door opening interrupted the professor's lecture.

"Yo. Sorry I'm late." Azure said lightly, walking in wearing the standard Beacon uniform for male students.

The portly professor only looked at him with what Azure could only assume to be disappointment, as the professor's eyes were covered in his thick eyebrows. "Well, Mr. Schnee, is it? How gracious of you to join us, thirty minutes late! Take your seat, please."

"Sure thing."

With that, Azure climbed to the top of the stairs and placed himself behind the top-right desk, alongside his team and next to Rachel, all of which were wearing their uniforms.

"You know, Azure, since you're team leader…" Rachel started.

"Responsibility, blah blah blah. School's not my thing, Rach, it'll work out."

His fox-eared teammate only gave him a disappointed look. "What kind of leadership is that, Azure?"

"Hey, team leader's more of an honorific for me, really. I'm not really gonna bark around orders or stuff like that."

"Then what _are_ you gonna do as a leader?"

"Coordinate battle strategies. That's really the only thing the team leader needs to do, right?"

The redheaded faunus let out an exasperated sigh.

"Go Team AMBR, and their fearless leader…"

"S-shut it!"

" _Ahem_."

The professor's prompt caused the two to straighten up in surprise, only to see that the verbalisation was directed at Team RWBY, down in the front. The interruption dealt with, the portly professor continued his lecture on Azure didn't know what.

"Listen, Rach, you don't have to look at me like some figure of authority or whatever. Just, in team battles, I'll ask that you just follow my lead, okay?" Azure asked in a hushed voice.

Rachel just looked at him with an unreadable expression. "At least be more responsible as a student, too. If the leader looks bad, what does that say about the team?"

Azure understood what she was getting at, but that didn't mean he liked it. "Ugh, fine, fine, I'll at least _try_ a little harder in school."

Rachel gave her friend a smile.

"I do!" a certain white-haired girl shouted from the front of the class. The declaration caught Azure's attention in that moment.

"Huh, what's with Weiss?" Azure asked aloud.

"You've been living with her, aren't her habits normal to you?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, but she actually likes school, and learning and all that. Just now, she sounded mad, like, _pissed_. Something's up."

Azure watched uneasily as Weiss left and re-entered the classroom in her combat gear. As the professor stood beside a large metal cage, Weiss stood opposite the cage and took a combat stance with her rapier, Myrtenaster drawn. Azure took notice of her reaction to her team's cheers, silencing only Ruby as she tried to cheer her on, despite Yang and Blake having done the same.

Oh, hell, something was wrong with Weiss and Ruby. _Again_.

The professor eventually cut open the cage with his eccentric blunder-axe, and a Boarbatusk came charging out at the Schnee heiress. As the battle between the Grimm and his sister went on, Azure noticed something was still amiss about the battle. It was like she was distracted by Ruby's cheers, as she was making more missteps than Azure was used to seeing, all occurring when Ruby shouted something out.

"Weiss! Go for it's belly! There's no armor underneath-"

" _Stop telling me what to do_!"

Oh, _hell_ , what did he expect? Of course Weiss was mad about not being appointed leader, he just didn't think she was _irresponsibly_ mad.

While she was having trouble initially, the white-haired teen had apparently received the final push she needed to send her anger into a special state, where she could be raging mad and still effectively end the beast's life with use of her semblance. With the battle concluded, the professor dismissed the class and Weiss left in a brisk pace, Ruby following.

"Jeez, what's with her?" Jaune asked from his desk as Azure walked by.

Azure turned to his fellow blond. "She's just upset that Ruby was chosen as RWBY's leader instead of her. It's just like her, she totally came in expecting to be top-notch."

"Huh. She gonna be okay?" Jaune questioned his fellow leader.

Azure glanced at the doorway. "I'll have to make sure it can sort itself out before I decide to butt in."

With that, Azure headed out to the hall and, upon hearing the voices of Ruby and Weiss, headed in their direction. Coming up on the two girls, Azure leaned back against the corner of the hallway, out of sight of the RWBY teammates.

"Ozpin made a mistake."

The footsteps of Weiss were all that followed. Azure was disappointed in her behavior, to say the least.

"Your sister's quite the piece of work, isn't she?"

The blond Schnee turned around to see a gray-haired man with a coffee cup.

"Headmaster...uh…"

The man chuckled. "Ozpin. While I am aware that you learn names better when they're given to you directly, you would do best to learn the names of your professors."

Azure shrugged, and the headmaster continued on. "I'll talk to miss Rose. You should see to your sister."

Giving one last look at Ozpin before the gray-haired man turned the corner to speak to Ruby, Azure set out to find Weiss.

It didn't take long, fortunately, as the Schnee heiress was standing on one of the balconies overlooking Vale at the moment. Azure took a deep breath, and headed over to his Schnee sister.

"...it's not fair." Weiss began, still looking out over the balcony.

"It doesn't matter, Weiss. What happened, happened, and there's nothing you can do now but suck it up."

"Easy for you to say," Weiss said whilst turning to face her brother. "You _got_ the position of team leader. What's for you to complain about?"

"Well, I can't skip class, and I actually have to get decent grades-"

" _Exactly_. Ozpin apparently made several mistakes, giving titles of the utmost responsibility to a child, a weakling, a brute and a slacker."

Azure's gaze hardened on Weiss. "With the way you're acting, it looks like he'd be making a team leader out of a child either way."

Weiss gave a look of astonishment. "Excuse me? You _know_ how hard I've worked to get here, and you were _there_ when that work went down the drain, the moment Ruby became a leader!"

"Weiss, if all your work was for nothing, you might as well leave Beacon and give up on becoming a huntress."

…

Weiss only stared back as she contemplated what Azure had just told her, her facial expression slowly turned from anger to defeated contempt as she understood his point. She silently looked down at the ground, and the blond took her gesture as a queue that she was ready to listen.

"It's only been one day since teams were formed. If everyone had to prove themselves within a twenty-four hour time period, they'd be in a world of hurt. Like I said, all we can do now is bear whatever burden that comes with our positions and keep moving forward. And if it's a matter of proving ourselves, you need to prove to Ruby that you can be a good teammate, just like I, Jaune, and even Cardin have to prove that we can be good leaders."

Azure walked closer to his sister and placed his hands on her shoulders. Weiss brought her gaze to his at the contact.

"As much as you expect to depend on Ruby, don't forget that she'll have to depend on you, too. Don't let her down, Weiss."

In conclusion, Azure gave her a squeeze on her shoulders and departed, leaving Weiss to contemplate her brother's words.

* * *

Micah looked down on the Schnee siblings from a balcony above and to the right of theirs, and watched as Azure left. He'd heard everything they'd said to each other, and found some intrigue in Azure's level-headedness.

The magenta-haired teen gave a small smirk. "King of Agony or no, you're definitely not some hot-headed thug anymore, Azure Brezhnev. No...Schnee."

…

"As unfortunate as it is, I'm not sure I can call you my brother anymore."

…

"Not because you went to degrade yourself by writhing in Schnee filth, but because of the collapse. From the moment you took that monster in, you weren't really my brother anymore."

* * *

A/N: The, as of now, enigmatic Micah Brezhnev, baby.

On a serious note, let me have a heart-to-heart with you guys:

I've had one review in eight chapters (A Devil's Offspring, thanks again), and despite putting it at the end of every A/N I write, the only time I get a review is when I make a joke about passive-aggressiveness in regards to the thing. While I realize that the story only has 12 followers, reviews. Are. Appreciated. As I said before, this is my first time writing a fanfic, but it's also my first time writing a story that _other people are reading_. I'm making a lot of decisions in the writing process that, to me, are a little sketchy and might be a little of a stretch.

But since nobody leaves reviews ever, I don't know what you guys think about these things, and that's _beyond_ excruciating.

So, I'm leaving this here for anyone who reads it, please, _please_ review. They don't even have to be that long, just leave your thoughts on the chapters or the story as a whole, that's all I'm asking. I want to know what you guys think so maybe I can take it into account, and hopefully improve the writing of this story along the way.

With that, thank you again to everyone who's followed and favorited so far. It really does make writing these chapters worthwhile to know that people are wanting to read more.

And, that's it for me. Next chapter will most likely break canon for a moment before heading into Jaune's little story arc with Cardin.

Follow/Favorite/Review!

Later~!


	9. Repair

"Sonovabitch!"

While the entirety of Team AMBR were unwinding from a day of classes, Azure was gripped with horror as he came to a realization.

The bag.

His bag.

He hadn't opened it since they got to Beacon.

It'd been a week at this point.

"What the hell is wrong with me?! Why didn't I unpack with everyone else?!"

Azure practically tore the room apart in search of his small sackpack that had been his only luggage to school, whilst the rest of his team stood to the side and observed their leader's erratic behavior.

"Hey, you guys grew up with him, so...is he normally like this?" Byakuya questioned his other teammates.

Rachel shook her head. "It could be the end of the world, and if Azure wasn't directly involved in any conflict he wouldn't pay it any mind. This is weird."

Micah interjected, "If he's so freaked out about this, then it must be something that'll bite him in the ass if he leaves it alone. Wonder what he packed that's so important."

This search continued for hours, and the other dorms paid no mind to the ruckus that came from AMBR's dorm. Finally, at midnight, the search came to a head.

"It's settled!" the blond team leader exclaimed. The eyes of the team turned to their leader.

…

"The bag's not here."

Azure dare not turn to face the atrocities that would afflict him at the broadcasting of such news.

"...your bag... _your_ bag...isn't here?" Micah questioned.

"Didn't you pick your crap up after teams formed?" Byakuya asked, dumbfounded.

"Hey, listen, there was a lot happening at the time! Weiss was mad when we left the forest and I was doing my best not to die before I could even _start_ training!"

"That leaves one question," Rachel announced, bringing the attention to her. "Where is Azure's bag now?"

A silence filled the room as the four thought hard about this query. As if on cue, the door to their room shot open and a little white ball flew through the opening.

If there was any sort of distress on Azure's face before, there was no longer any trace of it. The blond relaxed, and caught the white ball with the utmost ease.

The MBR of AMBR stood in awe as the white ball unrolled to reveal a cat.

"Neko?!" Rachel and Micah asked in astonishment.

"A-a freakin' cat?!" Byakuya stuttered in equal shock.

A certain heiress then stepped in the door frame, still in her blue and white sleeping gown. Behind her, a slightly shorter redhead.

"I knew that if you were gonna forget one thing, it was gonna be your cat. So, knowing you would be none the wiser, I took your bag and held on to Neko for a while. Since you're so adamant about giving the cat real food, I allowed him to chow on all those ingredients you brought, as well." Weiss said with pride, quite satisfied with herself that she managed to hide her brother's belongings whilst taking care of his pet.

Azure stared at his sister in confusion, before morphing into shock. "You fed Neko _raw ingredients_?!" It was only now that the six noticed the small feline's tears as he clung to his owner.

Weiss stood, trying to understand what the issue was. "Yeah...I mean...ingredients are for food, right?"

"Yeah, but those ingredients come together to make food! They're ass if you just eat it plain!" Azure turned his back on his sister as he comforted his cat. "I always knew you were bad with pets, but it looks like you're just as clueless when it comes to cooking!"

"Well _excuse me_ for trying to take care of _your_ pet!"

"Maybe if you had just given me my damn bag, you wouldn't have had to take care of him!"

And so, yet another bickering match between the two Schnee siblings began. As the war of words was fought bravely, Ruby stood to the side with the remainder of AMBR.

"So...you're telling me…" Ruby began.

"Azure...has a cat?" Byakuya finished.

"Yup, looks like it! I always wondered what happened to Neko, but now we know! He's been with Azure the whole time!" Rachel explained, happy that the cat the orphans had picked up on the streets was back with them.

"And...why exactly did Azure pack ingredients for food?" Ruby asked, still trying to grasp the situation.

However, her confusion only worsened, for as soon as the redhead inquired about the ingredients, Rachel seemed to melt where she stood and a small smile found it's way onto Micah's lips.

"It's because Azure is the _best_ cook!" Rachel answered, in pure bliss of the thoughts of Azure's cooking.

"I'll admit, it's not half bad…" Micah added, salivating.

While Byakuya was still in the dark about what was happening, Ruby seemed to grasp the situation pretty quick after that. "Cool! Azure, are you really that good? Can you cook us something?"

Azure turned his attention away from the argument he was having with Weiss to answer. "I would be happy to, however, all the ingredients I brought are gone, thanks to a _certain someone_."

"Okay, okay, I'm _sorry_ for helping you out!"

"You take a look at this cat and tell me you were _helping me out_!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Byakuya shouted.

…

The only thing that filled the silence between those in the room were the grievances from the other dorms. Most had been pent up for hours at this point.

Finally someone spoke. "Well...if I'm gonna cook...I need ingredients...I don't know where to get any in Vale…" Azure said meekly.

The Schnee heiress huffed in annoyance. "Well, that's your problem, not mine. Excuse us." She grumbled as she pulled her team leader out of AMBR's dorm and down the hall.

"Well, I guess you'll just have to figure it out tomorrow." Rachel said with a yawn.

Byakuya looked around at his teammates. "Wait, what? Azure, you're actually gonna do it?"

"Yeah!" Azure said with an enthusiastic nod. "I've been a little out of practice, and plus…" the blond looked over at his still weeping companion. "Neko needs real food, like, _yesterday_."

The night ended with the team agreeing that now was a good time for sleep, followed by a much-deserved weekend tomorrow. However, Azure had a task to complete before he slept…

* * *

* _You have joined chat as Azure_Grimoire_

The_Tragedy_of_L: Azure! Thank god, I thought you were dead!

Azure_Grimoire: What, I can't stay off for a week without you thinking I've been killed now?

Kanra: Well, you are a student at Beacon! If anything, it's like we're waiting for an obituary!

The_Tragedy_of_L: Kanra, don't be an ass.

Kanra: You know it's true, L!

Azure_Grimoire: Whatever, whatever, listen, do you guys know the best place to buy cooking ingredients in Vale?

The_Tragedy_of_L: Cooking?

Kanra: Hunter AND aspiring chef? My, my, Azure!

Azure_Grimoire: Shut it. This is important.

The_Tragedy_of_L: Uh...sorry, man. I usually do my shopping at the Schnee-mart I live close by to. It's affordable for a student, though! You might get some decent ingredients there!

Azure_Grimoire: Everything at Schnee-mart is overly processed and disgusting. I'd rather die than feed that scum to someone.

Kanra: Wow, passionate!

* _Private message from Kanra_

[Kanra: If you're that interested, I think I might be able to find you a store that sells fresh produce in town. Probably not the most productive use of my resources, but I never turn my back on a friend in need!]

[Azure_Grimoire: Shut up. There's always a catch with you.]

[Kanra: Let me eat it too.]

[Azure_Grimoire: Uh?]

[Kanra: I'm helping you find the ingredients you need, so, I want to taste what you're cooking. Just give me your contact info and I'll send you the location as soon as I find one. In return, I get to have the honors of tasting your gourmet dish! Deal?]

[Azure_Grimoire: I...guess there's nothing wrong with that. My scroll number is (uhh it's Azure's number). I'll only tell you where I'm cooking when I meet you at the store you find, though.]

[Kanra: Of course! Now then, isn't it past your lights out time, schoolboy?]

[Azure_Grimoire: Screw off!]

* _Azure_Grimoire has left chat_

The_Tragedy_of_L: He didn't even say goodnight or anything? Has he been assassinated?!

Kanra: You worry too much, L.

* * *

Micah walked in front of his teammates, unpleased. "You're telling me there isn't a single ramen place in all of Vale?"

Azure explained, although he was sure Micah already knew the answer. "It's a cultural thing. Foods like ramen and meat buns are common in Atlas because it's native to the culture."

"I mean, I get that, but seriously? The entire city, and they don't even have _one_ of those 'Atlas Noodles' places or something generic like that."

"Well, Vale isn't exactly known as the most diverse kingdom." Byakuya interjected.

Azure nodded. "He's got a point. When you look at cultural diversity between kingdoms, Vale is second only to Atlas on exclusivity.

Micah sighed in content. "Okay, so, where are we getting lunch?"

"We could go back to school and have Azure cook!" Rachel said excitedly.

"I still don't have any-" the blond Schnee was interrupted by his scroll going off. Finding amusement in such convenient timing, Azure opened his scroll to see what he already knew was there.

 _Message from: Restricted Number: "Hey Azure! Go to the market square, east-central division. Best in the city!_

 _-Kanra"_

Azure grinned as he read the message. Kanra had pulled through for him, after all. Now he had to hold up to his end of the deal.

 _New message: All right, the place I'll be serving is…_

* * *

Having obtained all the needed ingredients for ramen at the aptly titled "Cook's Kiosk" that Kanra had given the directions to, AMBR returned to Beacon and headed to the kitchen in their dorm building, deciding to invite teams RWBY and JNPR to have lunch with them.

"You know, I never would've pinned Azure as the kind of guy who could cook." Jaune thought out loud.

"Me neither! I guess he's pretty good though, since Rachel and Micah are so excited." Ruby replied.

Immediately after hearing this, Micah did his best to wipe away the grin creeping across his face while Rachel felt the heat rising in her cheeks, wiping some drool away from her mouth.

The entire conversation had Yang a bit intrigued. "So, what's the story? I know you two grew up with Azure for a while, so where does this cooking skill come from?"

Rachel thought for a moment and then replied. "I actually don't know how he became so good. It's weird, I just always remember him being really talented at cooking."

Micah shrugged, signaling he was the same.

"Chow time!"

Azure emerged from the kitchen in his usual attire, aside from the jacket being replaced by a plain, dark blue apron. He carried a tray of bowls and utensils to the table the three teams were seated at and set it down, revealing the twelve bowls of homemade ramen.

As soon as the bowls entered their sight, Rachel and Micah eagerly picked theirs up and got their choice utensils, chopsticks, ready. Weiss did the same, with much less eagerness but equal gleam in her eyes. The other nine (minus Azure, whom was getting his bowl and chopsticks at a steady pace.) just sat in examination of the odd behavior Azure's cooking induced before picking up their own bowls, choosing forks over the Atlesian method of eating ramen.

All confusion left their minds as the rest began to dig into their meals.

"Hey, this _is_ good!" Ruby said in surprise.

"No kidding! I mean, I've never had ramen before, but…" Jaune added meekly.

The only one who didn't react immediately upon the first taste was JNPR's silent orient, Ren, who only sat in deep thought as he thoroughly chewed and tasted the ramen. After a moment, everyone noticed the intense examination Ren was conducting and turned to face him. Azure unknowingly held his breath, a little on-edge thinking about what another native Atlesian thought of his take on the dish.

To everyone's surprise, Ren concluded his inspection by swallowing the first bite and uncharacteristically scarfing down every last noodle.

Now, Yang _had_ to know. "Okay, spill it, blondie. Where'd your skill come from?"

"Blondie? You're one to talk, you know…" Azure replied.

Yang spoke through a pointed and predatory glare. 'Don't test me, smartass.'

The blond Schnee sighed, deciding that he owed his friends an explanation, if nothing else.

"Well, when I was really little, I spent a lot of time with my mother. I was practically her shadow; my dad was always at work, so she was really the only one around. I picked up a lot of housekeeping stuff from her, but more than anything, I got the cooking skill." Azure seemed to stare off into nothing, reminiscent. "I always helped her out with dinner and stuff, so it became natural, almost like breathing. Even when she passed away, cooking was always something that kept her close to me, you know? Like she passed a little of herself to me when I learned how to cook."

The room was silent for a moment before Azure stood up.

"Everyone finished? Cool, I'll take your bowls."

As the blond stood up and gathered the dishes, everyone gave quiet thanks and praise. When Azure was out of earshot, conversation started again.

"Huh. I never would've guessed your mom was so handy with housework, Weiss." Yang said. The Schnee heiress and the Brezhnevs winced a little, leaving the others confused. "It...wasn't my mother that taught him that. It was his."

Confused, Ruby cut in. "Weiss, she was your mom too, right?" The young team leader's voice cracked a little, fearing that her teammate had some disdain for her deceased mother.

"Unlike most of the other kids at our orphanage, Azure knew his parents."

…

Byakuya, JNPR and three-fourths of RWBY looked towards the fox faunus in surprise.

"You mean…" Jaune started.

Rachel nodded. "When Azure first came to the orphanage, he was very reserved and even hostile. It took some time for him to warm up to us, since he would go out of his way to not talk to anyone. The few kids who did only made fun of him, so he got into a lot of fights at home and at school." She looked down and gripped handfuls of her dress. "It was really hard to see him like that."

The orange-haired girl took a moment to collect herself before continuing. "It made me really happy when Micah and I finally got through to him. Even if he still tried to act like he didn't want to be around anyone, we could tell he really enjoyed being with us after a while. I can't imagine what it was like for him when he got separated from us in-"

"Why would he have cared? It's like we drew straws, and he got to live the good life and ditch us."

For a moment, everyone looked in shock at the magenta-haired boy who had been silent throughout the conversation. Only then did they recognize the coldness that glazed his onyx eyes.

Micah put a wide grin on his face and turned to the teen they hadn't realized was standing in, listening for who knew how long.

"I'm right, right? In one day, you got power and a rich family. Seems like a pretty damn good trade, even if you left all of us in the dirt."

Azure was...he wasn't sure what he was. Angry? Upset? Hurt? Dammit, he couldn't even make his own feelings out. What the hell was Micah going on about? He didn't actually think that about him, right? There's no way that his brother-

Azure's thoughts came to a screeching halt.

"You...we...aren't really brothers anymore."

…

Clapping. "Hey, you figured it out!"

The blond couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"W...why…"

"Because, you're a Schnee. That makes you _not_ a Brezhnev, right? You found a new family, so you aren't part of ours anymore."

'This isn't right. This isn't right this isn't right this isn't...'

' _Ouch. Looks like this kid struck a pretty hard chord, huh?_ '

In that moment, he wanted to fight back. He wanted to punch this shit in the face and maybe knock some sense into him. If it didn't happen the first time, he would hit him again, and again, and again.

All Azure could manage to do was walk out of the dining room.

Once in the hallway, his pace picked up. After a while, he broke into a jog, then a full- on sprint up the staircase and out onto the roof.

He burst through the door and fell to his knees. He didn't dare cry, he just stared at the ground with pain glazing his green-and-amber eyes.

"Dammit…"

* * *

A resounding slap was the only sound that filled the room after Azure came out.

Micah, who was initially the slightest bit satisfied with himself, was now just confused as he saw who he had received the slap from.

"You idiot...there's no way you meant what you said, so why'd you say it?!" The fox faunus yelled at him.

Micah immediately took an indifferent posture. "You know what I said is true. He ditched all of us, his family, for other people. Abandoned us and took on a new name. Of course he's no longer our brother. It's the truth."

"You...you don't just sever bonds like that! We got separated, we didn't know he was alive- _he_ didn't know _we_ were alive!"

Before any retort could be made, Rachel was out and after her brother.

Micah stood for a moment, trying figure out if Rachel had forgotten what their mission was, what Azure had become. The reason he gave was false, yes, but she knew as well as he did what the boy they once called their brother had done.

"Micah, there's some things you should know about Azure's time living in the Schnee manor."

Onyx eyes turned to Weiss. She was noticeably angry, but she was restraining herself considerably. Micah wondered what she could possibly say that she thought would sway him.

"For the first month, he didn't speak a word to any of us…"

* * *

"...so, what's up with Ken and the others?"

The faunus was caught a little off guard with the sudden question. Since she'd come to the roof to be with Azure, he hadn't so much as said a word, silently accepting her company.

"They're just fine, actually. They're staying with the organization that Micah and I work for."

"The one that judged me "dangerous"?"

Rachel inwardly flinched at the hostility in her friend's voice. "They...yeah."

Azure stayed silent for a moment. "They're okay? The kids, I mean."

"Yeah!" Rachel brightened up at the question. "Ken's getting really big, and he's become sort of a role model for the others instead of just their leader. Mika's also grown up a lot, she's so cute, and a super talented dancer! Yo's been working hard at becoming a good cook like you, too! You really inspired him!"

She then took a moment of silence. "Even when Micah tried to convince them that you were gone for good, they all stood confident that you hadn't forgotten us, and that you were gonna come back. They all believed that we would be a family again…"

Silence overtook the two. Azure let out a soft sigh.

"You know, my first month at the Schnee manor, I didn't talk to anyone."

"You didn't get into any fights, did you?"

Laughter. "No, no, I didn't fight anyone. I just didn't talk."

Rachel looked at her blond friend in wonder. "Why?"

"I didn't want to talk to anyone. At first, I didn't even want to have a new family."

Rache only stayed silent, waiting for Azure to continue.

"It was hard...thinking that everyone was gone. I was hopeful that maybe you all were still alive at first, but then I realized that I probably wouldn't ever see you guys again if you were. I just...wanted my brothers and sisters back. I wanted my family."

The fox faunus put all her will into not letting a single tear fall.

"Almost every night, I had nightmares about that day, the collapse. Even though it was the same one every time, I still would wake up crying like a baby. Then, one night, when Weiss and I were sharing a room, she crawled into my bed and held me, shushing me and telling me it was alright…" Azure's eyes grew cloudy for a moment. "For the first time in a whole month, I felt like I was gonna be okay."

"Azure…"

"After that, it became like a routine. Every time I had a nightmare, she'd be there. We grew really close, and we still are, even if it doesn't look it. I grew to love the Schnees over time, realizing that they didn't take me in for some publicity thing or whatever. They truly wanted me, and they did everything to try and fix me after the collapse. Knowing that…"

…

"It helped me start to move on from everything that happened. I never forgot you guys, but I knew I couldn't let it control me forever."

…

Azure stood up from his spot and turned to the door.

"Now, I know you don't take words very well, so why don't we skip the verbal war and get to the real fun? Whattya say, Micah?"

In the doorway to the stairwell stood Micah, Weiss behind him.

"I was wrong. You haven't changed a bit, tsundere."

"Hey, what the hell? Don't start calling me that again!"

"Why? You _are_ a tsundere!"

"You never even told me what that means-ow, dammit!"

"Don't let your guard down!"

"That's it, you're going down you black-eyed bastard!"

"D-don't make fun of my eyes!"

While the two boys continued throwing insults and fists at each other, the two girls stood to the side, giggling at them.

"So, Weiss…" Rachel began.

"I told Micah about when Azure first started living with us. I know he was just hostile because he knew about what happened at the collapse, and my explaining seemed to at least half-convince him that he wasn't being reasonable."

The fox faunus giggled. "Micah's always been a little hard-headed, and it's only gotten worse over the years. No matter what, I think this would've happened eventually."

The two stayed silent for a bit longer, watching the boys quarrel.

"Azure told me, too. About living with your family." Rachel said. Weiss hummed in response.

…

"You think of Azure as more than a brother, don't you?"

…

"Yeah. Maybe I do."

* * *

The clock struck midnight, and two teenagers lied on the roof of a dorm building. They'd been fighting for hours, and had finally reached their limit about fifteen minutes ago. Now, they just lay next to each other, looking up at Remnant's fractured moon.

"Hey, Azure."

"Yeah?"

"I never asked...how was the director in his last moments?"

A moment of silence.

"He...wasn't in the best shape. But, even broken, he was still as cool as ever."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Nothing could ever convince me that he wasn't the strongest guy that ever lived."

"I have to agree with you there. It takes guts to be a father for a bunch of kids like us."

A moment of laughter.

"And not out of obligation, because he really wanted us to be happy."

"Yeah. He especially wouldn't let you be all grumpy, Azure."

"Yeah. You remember how he finally got me to open up?"

"You started cooking for us."

"Well, that's when it happened, I started cooking for a different reason…"

"You thought his food was crap."

"It was! If it wasn't for me, we'd have been eating cardboard for all those years!"

"I know, I know. Thanks for that."

"My pleasure."

A moment of happiness.

"Azure...I'm sorry."

"Hey, you've always been a little stupid, don't get all hung up on it."

"H-hey...I'm at least _trying_ to be less hard-headed."

A white ball jumped on Micah's face, and promptly hopped off and curled up on Azure's chest.

"Well, Neko thinks you should try harder."

"Shut up."

The two friends had repaired their shaky reunion. Micah truly believed that they could be brothers again, if they'd ever really stopped, that is.

The two let out a chuckle in light of their conversation, soon developing into giggles, and then into full-blown laughter.

* * *

A peculiar figure stalked around Beacon campus at midnight. While the school was quite well-guarded at dark, he wasn't the best free-runner in Vale for nothing.

He finally stopped at a bowl of ramen. Would've had to be reheated, but it was definitely homemade.

The figure looked at the bowl in confusion, then let out an annoyed sigh.

"Azure, you're a pain."

* * *

A/N: This one took a while. I basically went in thinking, "Oh shit, I forgot to put the cat in. I want the cat there. Damn, better put the cat in." I found a way to tie it into the whole cooking thing, which was what I kinda wanted to be the focus for the chapter. While writing, it just felt natural that Azure and Micah do the whole "kiss and make up" thing, so I hope it doesn't feel forced when you guys read it.

Posidon29: I Appreciate the kind words! I hope you continue to enjoy, even if the time between chapters starts to grow.

Once again, I'd like to thank everyone who's followed and favorited!

Not gonna give a big spiel like I did in my last a/n, but I will reiterate, reviews are appreciated!

Follow/favorite/review!

Later~!


	10. Secrets of Agony and Arc

_**Has he truly…**_

 **I doubt it.**

 _ **No...he has...one of our knights has defected.**_

 **You don't know that.**

 _ **He is befriending a Grimm! He is disregarding his orders-**_

 **His orders were not to eliminate, only to observe. Don't you think getting close is a good way to observe a subject?**

 _ **We know-**_

 **We don't. At this moment, Azure Schnee is merely a phenomenon, nothing more.**

 _ **Is that so? Have you seen the report that Brezhnev sent after initiation?**_

 **...yes.**

 _ **Then how do you explain the flames? The ones that made their presence known during the collapse, that the council as a whole determined that no living being could ever control?**_

 **We don't know exactly what his capabilities are. As for our knight, Micah Brezhnev has been loyal to us for nearly a decade now. While he has had his fair share of insubordination referrals, he has shown us that small details do not run past him. I see nothing but Brezhnev following his orders.**

 _ **You're not serious-**_

 **Azure Schnee is merely a phenomenon at the moment. Our real target is the King of Agony.**

 **IF I MAY INTERJECT/ TWO OTHER SIGNATURES SIMILAR TO THE KING OF AGONY HAVE BEEN DETECTED IN VALE/ CLASSIFIED AS CLASS-A PHENOMENON**

 **Identification?**

 **UNCLEAR/ SUSPECTED TO BE THE KINGS OF APATHY AND DESPAIR**

 _ **Despair?**_

 **Something tells me T was coming on to a much bigger conflict.**

 _ **What now? I move to contain Schnee so that Agony is not-**_

' _It's never good to talk behind someone's back, you know.'_

 **You.**

' _Hey, Amaterasu! It's been a while! Oh, hey, Susano'o's here, too. Ah well, I guess I can put up with you. And Kusanagi! Real bummer that you're just a plain ol', boring A.I. now, eh?'_

 _ **How exactly did you gain entrance to this place?**_

' _You ask that like you don't know.'_

 **T.**

' _Bingo! Good ol' Take-Mikazuchi, always lending a helping hand!'_

 **What is your game?**

 **IF I MAY SPEAK OUT OF TERM/ I FEEL THAT AGONY IS NOT HERE BEARING ILL WILL**

' _Nice to see you have a little faith in me still, ba-'_

 **IF I MAY ISSUE A THREAT/ I WILL NOT HESITATE TO ACTIVATE PROGRAM [ALTAMIRA]**

' _...still likes to ruin my fun. You really haven't changed, you know.'_

 **I'll ask again, what is it you are here for? I would assume that, if you have access to this place via T in his sword form, you know of our actions.**

' _Even if I didn't, your knight really sucks at keeping stuff like that in the dark. And the observers...oh, man...they really don't give me much credit. They're practically broadcasting their aura whenever the kid so much as brushes up against them.'_

 **Which begs the question, why reveal yourself to us now?**

' _I just came to give a little warning.'_

 _ **And that would be?**_

' _Butt out.'_

 **Hmm?**

' _You heard me. From the sound of it, you guys picked up on Despair and...whoever the hell he decided to drag out with him. So, I came to tell you that you should mind your own damn business for now and let a_ real _Grimm Lord deal with that rat.'_

 **You plan to deal with him yourself? I doubt you even have a plan of action.**

' _What, you think I'm playing this by ear?'_

 **Are you not?**

' _...he...haha….ahahahaha…...ahahahahaha!'_

 _ **Wha-what is your damage?!**_

' _That. Is. RICH! Nine years of watching and waiting equals an improv plan of action….I've never heard a better joke!'_

 **Your actions since the collapse have been haphazard, so it would be best to assume that your plans are such. Are you trying to say that you have an idea, a direction you wish to head with this?**

' _Oh, I do. And everything's so much easier with a host body that doesn't crumble when the heat comes-in fact, I was_ really _just ecstatic when he used_ my _flames like they were_ his _! It's incredible, a human using my powers...'_

 _ **That means…**_

 **Azure Schnee…!**

' _Have fun looking into that kid, dig up everything you want about him. You'll be quite impressed. Oh, and one more thing before I go. Just to reiterate, Takamagahara stays out of my way. Capiche? Good! Ciao!'_

…

 **Azure Schnee...Brezhnev...Aoiro.**

* * *

"Charging again."

"It didn't work the first eighty times, why does he keep going in like that?"

Azure replied to his onyx-eyed friend's question without looking at him. "Lack of discipline. Jaune can swing a sword and hope to hit something, but that's about it. He's got no strength in those lanky limbs, he'll lose out to Winchester every time."

Just a normal day at Beacon, and teams RWBY, JNPR and AMBR were in class. Specifically, aura studies and combat drills. Today marked the umpteenth time that Jaune Arc, the uneasy leader of team JNPR, was sparring against Cardin Winchester, the one person in the world that could find new ways to make Azure question the prerequisites for acceptance into Beacon.

Not that Jaune didn't do that every once in a while, too, though. Despite Cardin's seemingly endless lack of knowledge, he still outclassed Jaune in more ways than one. This was always apparent when they sparred.

They had been paired for combat so many times, Azure and Micah made a game out of analyzing Jaune's shortcomings. Most of the others called it rude, but Azure couldn't stand watching another Jaune slaughter without making _something_ of it.

"Three...two...one…"

On Micah's cue, the lights in the previously dark room went up and the match was over. Professor Goodwitch (whom Azure had gotten an earful from for not knowing her name.) explained that in an official match, an aura gauge in the red, as Jaune's currently was, signaled that the match was over.

"Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. _Please_ try to refer to your scroll during combat. Gauging your aura will help you decide when it is more appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more...defensive strategy." Goodwitch explained to Jaune, who was currently seated on the ground. "We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, would we?"

Cardin set his monstrous mace on his shoulder. "Speak for yourself."

Azure frowned. "Bastard."

Goodwitch turned to address the rest of the students. "Remember, everyone! The Vytal Festival is only a few months away. It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing. Those who choose to participate in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!"

That concluded the class, as Goodwitch's last bit of info had everyone, even Weiss, bursting with excitement.

Azure couldn't lie, he was excited for the festival. After all, it was a festival, and just the word had wonderful memories of the Winter Festival back home flowing through his mind like water. Then there was the tournament…

Realistically, there was no way Azure _wouldn't_ enter.

'I'm always down for a good fight, and with students from all four kingdoms entering, I should be able to have the fight of a lifetime!'

Azure sighed, keeping in mind that all of these things were still months away. For now, all he could do was keep training and make sure he was always in peak condition.

' _I'm gonna laugh so hard when you're on the receiving end of a one-hit K.O in the first match!'_

Besides, he had bigger problems. Agony's little quips becoming more frequent was only one.

Walking to his next class with his team, the blond Schnee contemplated the ever-prevalent issue that was Cardin Winchester. Azure personally didn't have a problem with the brute, since he knew Cardin wouldn't stand a chance against him in a fight, and the CRDL leader probably knew this as well. The real issue Azure was having was with how he and the rest of CRDL treated _everyone else_.

A slight bump in the shoulder caught Azure's attention. As he tried to apologize, he saw a head of long, brown hair and bunny ears move quickly down the hall away from him.

Velvet Scarlatina, a second-year and member of the well-known and praised Team CFVY. A really cute and quiet girl, but supposedly she was hell on the battlefield. If that was true, then she didn't count a room with Cardin as a battlefield.

Azure felt his blood boil a little. His first impression of Winchester was definitely that he was an asshole, but the blond had enough faith in people to believe that he wasn't prejudiced.

Boy was he wrong.

Finally calming down over the course of the morning, Azure sat at a lunch table with teams RWBY and JNPR, as well as his own team. It was then he caught sight of Cardin's other frequent target.

While everyone else (minus Weiss, who was filing her nails) was invested as Nora regaled a riveting battle that rivaled Professor Port's tall tales, Jaune Arc sat quietly at the end of the table while Azure silently studied him from the opposite end.

Ever since the semester started, Jaune had been unlucky enough to be one of the several dozen students that Cardin and his lackeys painted a target on. Azure couldn't count on his fingers the amount of times Jaune had his books thrown down, his shield caught in the doorway, that one time he'd ended up in a rocket-propelled locker all the way to the heart of Emerald Forest…

All of them credited to Cardin Winchester.

The real thing that bothered Azure was that after nearly two months of this, as well as the several spars in class, Jaune hadn't gotten a lick stronger. It wasn't just CRDL, he'd never won a match against anyone, not even Pyrrha when she was _trying_ to let him win. Why?

Why the hell wasn't Jaune getting better?

' _You know, for all that aura he's got, he doesn't have the slightest bit of control over it.'_

For once, Agony caught Azure's attention with something that he hadn't noticed.

'What do you mean? He's gotta have some aura control if he made it here.'

' _That's just the thing, he doesn't. I don't think he even has a semblance, the way his aura's all static. See for yourself.'_

As much as he didn't want to play games with the bastard, Azure was intrigued. So, he closed his eyes and focused on Jaune's aura.

'...huh...it's like a skyrocketing heart monitor. The pulses his aura is sending, they're-'

' _Inhuman. Someone would have a lot of trouble learning to control aura like that.'_

'What are you getting at?'

' _I'm just gonna say this; If he's sitting there, unable to properly control his aura, how can you be sure he made it here the same as everyone else?'_

The thought struck Azure like lightning.

Did Jaune actually have any experience fighting Grimm?

Fighting at all?

"Yo, Azure." Micah said, shaking his blond friend. Azure snapped out of his trance and looked up at the table, all eyes on him.

"Are you feeling okay, Azure?" Rachel asked calmly, yet slightly worried.

Azure brushed off the concern. "Yeah, just thinking about something else, no big deal."

Everyone seemed to accept his answer, as Pyrrha turned the topic to another blond. "Jaune, are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Why?" Was his response.

The RWBY leader seemed to pick up on the issue. "It's just that you seem a little... _not_ okay."

"Guys, seriously, I'm fine! Look!" Jaune attested as he held a thumbs up and a forced smile.

Just then, the three teams' attention was diverted to a table across from theirs, where the notorious degenerates of CRDL were once again moving in on Ms. Scarlatina. Azure had to take a moment to contain himself and not make a scene, looking over at Micah and Byakuya. His two male teammates appeared to be in the same position as him.

Pyrrha once again moved the conversation back to the Arc. "Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school."

Jaune continued to put up a fight. "Who, Cardin Winchester? Nah, he just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!"

"He's a _bully_." Ruby stated, unusually serious.

Jaune scoffed. "Oh, please! Name _one_ time he 'bullied' me."

The Arc's challenge was met with the blank stares of everyone at the table (excluding Weiss, who once again was tending to her nails).

"Ah...I...I didn't land far from the school!"

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask." The red-headed amazonian reassured.

"Oh!" said Nora, shooting up and standing on her seat. "We'll break his legs!"

"Or we could cave his skull in." Byakuya suggested.

"Might as well get rid of all four of those assholes. Do everyone a favor." Micah chimed in.

As much as the brainstorming was pleasant, Azure could feel the violent intention rising. He figured Jaune did, too, as the blond Arc tried to diffuse the situation. "Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to _me_ ; he's a jerk to everyone."

"Ow! Stop, that hurts!"

RWBY, JNPR and AMBR eyes turned back to Velvet and CRDL. They were met with the unpleasant sight of Cardin pulling on Velvet's ears while the whole team laughed.

Now, Micah had reached a breaking point. Azure and Byakuya attempted to talk him down and hold him back, but to no avail.

"Let her go."

CRDL turned to face the magentahead who stared daggers into the four.

"Excuse me?" Cardin said mockingly.

"I said, let her go. _Now_."

Cardin put on a shit-eating grin and tightened his hold on Velvet's ear, causing her to squeak in pain, much to CRDL's amusement. "Why don't you make me, huh?"

"Suit yourself." Micah said grimly, aura flaring a bit.

This had gone on long enough.

" _That's enough_."

Before anyone knew what had happened, Azure was in between Cardin and Micah, Velvet's ear free of the CRDL leader's grip as Winchester held his slightly sore hand. The whole room dropped what they were doing to stare at the sight before them, Micah and Cardin completely silent as they watched black flames seep lightly from Azure's body.

Azure turned to his friend. "Get a grip, Micah. You could get in trouble starting a fight here."

Onyx eyes flared. "You think I give a damn?"

"No, but you could at least think a little clearer before jumping at someone's neck."

Micah stayed silent, knowing that Azure was right. The blond Schnee then turned to a scoffing Cardin.

"Count yourself lucky. Next time, I'll handle you _personally_."

Three fourths of CRDL stiffened a little at Azure's threat, while Cardin swore his eyes had turned blood red for a moment.

The situation now defused, Azure noticed the absence of Velvet. He figured she must have left as the conflict raged.

Walking back to his seat while the other students went about their business again, Azure caught the respectful nods from his friends and an unreadable glance in acknowledgement from his Schnee sister. Noticing the absence of Jaune, he glanced up to see the Arc walking calmly out of the cafeteria.

Azure could stop a bully dead in his tracks, but could he solve an utter enigma?

* * *

"Now, have any of you been subjugated or discriminated because of your faunus heritage?"

At Professor Oobleck's prompt, a couple students raised their hands, Velvet doing the same after a moment. Azure, who'd sat next to her since he'd gotten to class a little later than normal, took note of her shyness.

"Dreadful, simply dreadful!" Oobleck exclaimed. "Remember students, it is _precisely_ this kind of ignorance that breeds violence! ImeanImeanImean just look what happened to the White Fang!"

That note had piqued Azure's interest. Discrimination caused something to happen to the White Fang? He made a mental note to look into the history of the order. Hell, maybe he could find some clues about how to take it down.

Oobleck's lecture continued. "Now, which one of you young scallions can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?"

Weiss raised her hand. "Yes?" the professor acknowledged.

The Schnee heiress gave her answer in her overly-proud manner. "The battle at Fort Castle!"

Ding-ding-ding. "Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the faunus had over General Langune's forces?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Azure caught a glimpse of Cardin readying a paper ball of sorts to throw at a sleeping Jaune's head. He started immediately started calculating a defensive.

'If I can time it correctly, he can throw the paper and then, halfway between him and Jaune, I can burn it to a crisp in a split second so only Cardin sees and gets the memo, while Jaune isn't put on the spot and no one notices! It's perfect, now...'

"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?" Oobleck shouted.

The paper had already hit Jaune, and Cardin was particularly smug about it. The Arc now stood in the face of the daunting challenge of answering a question about a lesson he had slept through entirely.

' _Instead of thinking about what you're gonna do, maybe you should, you know,_ do _it.'_

'Can it.'

Glancing to the row above him, the blond Schnee saw Pyrrha trying to communicate to Jaune via hand signals, making multiple hand movements and symbols to send the message 'night vision.'

Velvet caught wind of this, too. "Y-You think he can make her signals out?" She said to Azure softly.

"Well, Jaune isn't as stupid as he looks, and Pyrrha's symbols are pretty obvious. You'd have to be an idiot to not understand-"

"Binoculars!"

The whole class erupted into giggles while the red-headed Nikos face-palmed. Azure and Velvet only sat still before the rabbit faunus' mouth curved up at the edges slightly. "You seem to have spoken too soon."

Azure gave a mock pout, which elicited a giggle from the shy girl.

' _Well, aren't you the charmer~.'_

'Again, can it.'

The highly caffeinated professor was not amused. "Very funny, Mr. Arc. Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject?"

The CRDL leader lounged back in his seat. "Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an _animal_ than a soldier."

While Azure could see that Pyrrha had a retort, he couldn't resist putting the punk in his place, seeing the expression on Velvet's face contort into shame.

"Guess that means we should put you on a leash."

The entire class erupted into laughter, Oobleck even giving a slight smirk at the remark. Cardin, however, was less than pleased.

"You got a freakin' problem?" He said as he stood up in his seat a little.

Azure's mouth formed into a grin. "Nope, but I got the answer. Night vision. Lots of faunus have almost perfect vision in low-lighting, and Langune didn't think about that. When his forces tried to ambush the faunus while they slept, they destroyed his soldiers and took him prisoner."

The blond turned to look at Cardin, his smug expression turning serious with a slight fire in his eye. Winchester got the message, scoffing and laying back in his seat.

"Right. Mr. Arc, Mr. Winchester, see me after class for additional readings. Moving on!"

* * *

Oobleck's class ended, and so did the school day. Azure left the classroom trailing slightly behind the rest of his team as they headed to get some quick training in before dinner. Byakuya walked slightly ahead of him while Micah and Rachel conversed about the lesson.

Azure thought of it as just another boring school night, that is, until…

' _Hey, borrowing this!'_

'What are you-'

After a moment, Team AMBR stopped and looked back at their leader, who was now kneeling.

"Uh...dude, you cool?" Byakuya asked.

In response, Azure stood up and faced his team with a grin. However, Micah and Rachel stood extra alert when they felt the air around him...change.

"I'm fine, thanks. Hey, listen, you guys go on ahead, I'll catch up!" And the blond Schnee ran off, leaving Byakuya confused and the two Brezhnev's slightly on edge.

"Micah...was that…" Rachel began.

"...I...I think it was…"

...

Azure walked down the hall and made a turn. When he was sure he was alone, he closed his eyes. Opening them, his heterochromatic green-and-amber orbs were replaced by pure crimson ones.

"Sorry, buddy! You can have your body back tomorrow, but right now, I need to look in on this Arc guy, and I'm pretty sure his little admirer is gonna get him to spill it in a few minutes. So, just sit tight, and I'll do all the hard work."

With that, a red-headed girl and a blond boy raced down the hall. Taking that as his cue, Agony followed.

* * *

A/N: Damn dude, I had to literally motivate myself to finish this chapter. This one was kinda tough, considering I didn't quite think it over as much this time. As a result, this one may or may not feel a bit weird. I kinda think it is.

Oh, classroom scene. I dunno, I always kinda thought Pyrrha's response at Cardin's racist thing was kinda lame. "Oh, you're not the most open-minded and I'm above that blah blah blah." Same thing with the bullying scene, everyone was kinda like "I'm disgusted by that and I'm above that." It straight up bothered me that heroic characters were looking down on it more than they were actually _doing_ something.

Anyways, I'm not gonna argue that I could've written some of the canon scenes better. I always have a nagging feeling that since it's in the show and people have seen it, I'm kinda skimming over some tiny tidbits that I probably shouldn't ignore.

Guest 1: Thank you so much!

Still, we continue! Next time, Jaune gets into more trouble and Agony may or may not feel the need to screw with everyone, now that he's gotten and inch, so to speak.

Follow/Favorite/ _ **Review!**_

Later~!


	11. AN, Putting your Family Dog Down

Greetings, greetings. If you haven't already figured it out, Burden's dead. Why, you might ask? Well, I'll tell you.

The first of many factors was that I didn't really have any idea at all where the story and the characters were going to end up and how they would get there. There was no endgame, a point 'A' but no point 'B'.

After figuring that out, I thought I was just gonna end up following cannon with some filler stuff in place of the timeskips for however long I wanted until I finally decided to place a finale arc somewhere along the way.

Jaune's bully arc, though, showed me that there was only so much alteration of cannon I could write before I wanted to shoot myself. On top of all that, character development was a big block for me. I never intended to make Azure the overpowered OC that everyone makes, but he ended up being just that. When I decided what kind of flaws he would have, well, they kinda contradicted the entire attitude he'd shown throughout the entire story.

So those, among some other reasons, are the main things that led me to kill this story. For all of you who truly enjoyed the story enough to follow and favorite, I'm sorry. If you want, I can make another post to this story that would cover what I think I would've ended up doing with it if I could've stomached writing the remainder of Volume 1 and the entirety of Volume 2.

But, never fear, my writing days are far from over~!

I'm beating around another RWBY story that starts at Winter's arrival at Beacon in Volume 3 and diverges from cannon from that point. Azure and the gang would return! Well, Azure will.

Goodbye Micah. And all you little faunus orphans. If I said it's been a pleasure, I'd be lying.

Soooooo, that's all she wrote. Make sure to read a one-shot I posted a while ago called _Glassy Sky_ , and give me your feedbacks on that. And please, stay tuned for more shenanigans!

 _-TrAsHtaco_


End file.
